


Force of Nature

by Praemonitorius



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Horizon Zero Dawn Crossover, More tags as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2018-12-05 04:50:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11570673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Praemonitorius/pseuds/Praemonitorius
Summary: Angela would jump in surprise when the Focus sparked in Fareeha's hand, dropping onto the snow before popping loudly. Even with it gone, there was no denying what had happened. HADES had recognized the Oseram when he spat the name 'Pharah' with enough poison to kill a man.It was at that moment Angela realized that there was something far bigger going on than a madman leading a cult and a kill order on her head. The Old Machine God did not want to see the return of the heroes from the Metal World. HADES did not want Overwatch coming back and stopping him.This meant that Overwatch was coming back and she and Fareeha were in the center of it all.This meant that a history that was long forgotten was beginning to repeat itself once more.OR(A retelling of Horizon Zero Dawn with Overwatch Lore and Characters that no one really asked for)





	1. Starting from Somewhere (we were all children once)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fox](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10645242) by [Reverse_Omegaverse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reverse_Omegaverse/pseuds/Reverse_Omegaverse). 



Angela groaned as she rolled over onto her stomach, closing her eyes as her head spun. Coughing she placed her hands underneath her as she pushed herself up off the ground, forcing her to look around. The cave she had fallen in was dim, the only light filtering in was from the hole she had fallen in while she was running.

Again.

Angela took a moment to hold back a sob as she rubbed her head. This wasn’t the first time the other children had thrown rocks at her and it would not be the last. ‘Outcast’ they call her. ‘To be shunned’ they say. She was only six years old and still learning but she only had one person to raise her, to teach her, and sometimes even he would not give her the answers she wanted. ‘Too young, when you’re older’ was the most common excuses the man she had grown to see as her father would give.

She would slowly raise to her feet and look up, cupping her hands around her mouth.

“Amari! Amari down here!” Angela would shout the best she could. She was never really good at it, never having the need to be the loudest voice. Angela looked around to see if she could climb backup but the rock face was flat and her hands were too small. Knowing that if Amari couldn't hear here from down here, she was stuck until he found her by chance or try to find another way out by exploring the cave.

She shivered slightly, Amari always enforced to be wary of caves; they tended to hide that which was forbidden. Angela would puff her cheeks out slightly, Amari never told her what was in these caves because her curiosity was always begging her to learn. He knew if he told her what was inside she would go looking for them.

“Amari!”

After her second shout and still no answer or the sound of his voice it limited Angela's choices. This would be her only chance until she was much older, able to hunt on her own, before she could come back here and that would be too long. Slowly she would take a step to the side and looked up at the small source of light. Waiting for Amari to appear with a rope.

He did not.

So she would run deeper into the cave, looking in fascination as it got darker in some spots and lightened up again where the ceiling and collapsed to let the light and elements in. She would stumble and stop, looking down, the rock had given away to metal, metal that almost looked like stairs.

No, it was stairs. She was starting at the borderline of the Metal World. Places that were forbidden, as she always remembered Amari warning her. The ways he always said it made it sound like it would hurt her like a machine would. She would slowly take a step and wait, nothing would happen.

Angela would quickly look behind her before taking another step down and waiting. She could hear dust and gravel falling as she shifted it but nothing aside from that. Quickly she ran down the stairs to where water had pooled over the years, light shining down on an open door way. Slowly she would tiptoe through the water and place her hand on the door.

Looking down she would see it would get dark again, but there was another doorway in the distance that was lit, so she would move, stumbling through rocks and metal, looking around her and seeing metal shaped in things she had never seen before. Angela would find herself at another staircase going  up and she would climb it, stumbling a few times and having to use her hands to catch herself.

At another doorway, scared, but too curious to turn back, she peeked in, waiting for whatever monster that was probably hiding in places like this that made it forbidden to jump out and kill her. Instead there was no monster, but a body lying on the floor. Slowly she would sneak over, scared that it will rise up and hurt her, but it did not move. Eventually she was beside it looking down. The body was shriveled up, like a dead turkey left out too long in the sun.

Slowly Angela would raise her hand to the faded orange silk scarf she wore and raised it above her mouth and nose, breathing in the sent of the fabric as she looked at the body of this dead person. They still had parts of their clothing, a style she had never seen before, and there was something glinting by their ear. Curious she would reach out, two small fingernails catching on the edge.

It plucked right off and onto her hand.

Angela would freeze at that moment, waiting for whatever it was that was forbidden to come out and get her, still nothing. Slowly she would rise back up to her feet and looked around the cave, feeling the moss under her bare feet and seeing all the rocks that piled up like massive anthills. She would have to ask Amari what they were called some other day, certainly not today.

Looking back at the small thing she had taken she decided maybe to try putting it on where the body had it on, slowly she raised it up to her ear and it slipped from her fingertips and there was a flash of light around her, squeaking loudly and her fingers pushing the item off her head it fell on the ground as she scrambled backwards, breathing hard as her eyes darted around.

She was the only one making noise.

She would fall back against one of those rocky anthills and try to catch her breath. That device did something before she knocked it off, and the body that had it was dead, but… Angela would quickly look around the cave, no… the ruins of the Metal World. Leaning forward she would crawl back to the device and pick it up again, rolling it between her fingers as she hummed to herself. Slowly she would move it back to her ear, closing her eyes when it slipped from her fingertips.

When nothing immediately happened she slowly opened her eyes, too see a web of light surrounding her, eyes darting around as old square hunks of metal started to light up in blurry hues of purple and pinks. The dark room was suddenly brighter, allowing her to see more than before. She would raise her hand up and saw that the light was scanning over her hands.

“What are you?” she whispered, wondering if it could hear her.

She would jump when letters appeared before her, stepping forward slightly to try and sound them out. Amari had been teaching her to read since she turned four but she felt that she still wasn’t very good. Amari would assure her she was years ahead of the other children. That most wouldn’t start learning until they were seven or eight. She picked out a few words, although most she didn’t understand, the first line made sense to her.

_I am a Volskaya Focus._

She didn’t understand what a Volskaya was, but she knew what ‘focus’ meant.

“Focus.” she repeated. “I am Angela.” Angela introduced herself and the Focus gave her the image of a smiling face. “I’m not, really good at reading, but I like learning, can you help me?”

_Yes, I have programs to help accelerate early age learning...activating..._

Angela only understood half of the words presented to her but nothing in terms of context. She understood the word ‘yes’ so that was good enough for her. Content she would move towards a glowing circle on a wall. The Focus was still lit up and it registered the circle, opening up a screen for her to read it. It identified it as a ‘Bunker Door’ with a couple words describing it, most of them a little too advanced for her to understand right now.

If there was anything Angela understood, it opened up a puzzle for her that she otherwise wouldn’t be able to see. She would look at the door that she thought was a wall and back to where it was directing her. No. It was opening up the Metal World to her.

Now she really needed to know.

She moved forward. 

* * *

  ** _FROM_** _: Director Burch_

 **_TO_ ** _: All_

 **_SUBJECT_ ** _: All Good Things..._

_To All Staff,_

_I regret to inform you that our worst fears have been realized. The Wichita salient has collapsed, and our position will be overrun in less than twenty-four hours._

_As I'm sure you understand, exfiltration transport is not available. If you wish to abandon the facility and try your luck on foot, you may do so. Lock 2 will unseal at 2100 hours and remain unsealed for 15 minutes. Godspeed._

_For those who'd rather not die on our feet, there will be a gathering in the community room at 2200 hours, and Nurse Chana will make other means available._

_I want to underscore how proud I am of each and every person who served at this post. It is important to bear in mind that our sacrifices were not in vain. I hope that makes this a little easier._

_For months now I've been signing off messages as "Director Burch", but I suppose we can dispense with such formalities now._

_Respectfully,_

_Ashly_

* * *

There was so much she didn’t understand, so much that she knew the Focus would teach her, yet some of these things, will remain a mystery until she was older. That much, Angela knew. She would lower the scarf around her face as she looked at the body of a man. There was a ‘audio datapoint’ on him. At least that’s what her Focus had identified it as it picked it up. Angela would lean back down to where the man’s hand was, there was something metal in the dirt and rocks. It was really small but she knew the shape of a trigger. She’d seen it on Amari’s Casters. A weapon the Old Ones used?

Once she pried it out her Focus scanned it over and labeled as ‘Glock 19 Handgun’ with a few other words to help describe it, some she picked out. ‘Dysfunctional’ was a new word she had just learnt the meaning of, so she set it down by the man’s hand. The Focus would set a button before her to touch if she wanted to listen to what the man had recorded. She had a feeling it wasn’t going to be happy, like the other things she had heard.

So far, the father wishing his son Happy Birthday was her favorite. _‘Happy Birthday Issac, daddy sure loves his little big man.’_

Angela would bite her lower lip before reaching up and pressing the symbol, she couldn’t feel it, but it moved under her touch anyway, and she could hear the man through the static as she turned around and ventured into another room.

 _“I saw them lining up in the community room.”_ The static would screech and made Angela wince as she climbed up a set of broken stairs. “ _Like cattle in a slaughterhouse, but smiling at each other... Chana handing out meds like being alive is just some kind of... pain to be eased.”_

Angela would pause when she heard the man say those words with spite. Then she remembered that weapon he had, did all the Old Ones kill themselves? She wasn’t sure what ‘meds’ meant, but the way it worded it, it sounded like they were using herbs to, stop living...

 _“Well... not me. I don't want to go quiet. I don't want to go quiet. I don't want to trail off. I want a period at the end of my life sentence, not an ellipses. Hell, an exclamation mark. So if that upsets whoever finds this, too bad. I don't owe anyone anything anymore.”_ There was a loud bang and Angela tripped and fell in surprise, scraping her knee against the floor. Her heart was pounding, was that the sound of his weapon? The man, he killed himself with his weapon?

What happened to the Old Ones that forced them to kill themselves?

She checked her knee, saw that it was bleeding and dirty. Angela would have to get Amari to clean it and dress it for her when she got home. Frowning she got back up to her feet and moved into the next room, that is when she saw, the man was right. Metal beds lined the walls and there were bodies on almost every one of them. Some of them glowing with datapoints for her to take.

She would have to come back later, when she was older, when her Focus taught her to understand more of the Old One’s words.

“Can you remember this place?” she asked her Focus. “Tell me again when I am older?”

As much as her Focus kept feeding her big words she didn’t understand it was still helpful. It gave her a series of numbers she didn’t understand the meaning of and the words ‘ _location saved’._ She would sound out those words slowly. She always heard Amari saying ‘save for later’ so ‘saved’ was easier to figure out. ‘Location’ must be a fancy word for ‘place’.

With one last look at the bodies, telling herself she’ll be back when she was older she would keep going forward to try and find a way out.

“Angela!” she heard her name echo through the ruins. “Angela! Where are you?”

“Amari!” she broke out into a run. “Amari I’m down here!”

Angela stumbled slightly as she tripped, but realized she was close to an entrance, or at least an opening she could climb up. She would scramble up the grass as a man appeared, looking down and sighed loudly when he saw Angela. She would smile weakly as he reached down for her to take his hand. One she had grabbed onto it he would pull her up effortlessly.

“Angela.” he would start, she would look away, hand playing with one of her braids sheepishly. Amari was good man, but from afar he could not be mistaken as her father. Where Angela was fair skinned and blonde, Amari was tanned with dark hair, however that did not stop him from caring for her like he was his flesh and blood.

“I fell in.” Angela whispered. “I know I’m not supposed to be in there.” she kicked the ground, Amari’s eyes would see the scrape on her knee as he pulled out a small cloth to clean the wound a little bit. When he looked up he would brush her bangs away.

“What happened.” he asked when he saw the cut on her forehead, she had even forgotten it was there in the rush to explore the ruins.

“One of the boys threw a rock at me.” she turned her head away. “Made fun of me again, one of the girls got really upset at him.”

“And this?” he would poke at the Focus she was wearing, Amari didn’t look that upset, as much as he tells her to avoid caves and ruins.

“I found it.” she muttered as she placed her hand over it, feeling that he would be asking for it to throw back in the ruins, going on how the tribe forbids things of the Metal World. “It’s helping me.” she looked up at him. “Are you going tell me it’s dangerous?”

Amari would sigh as he sat down on the grass and started to pull out some bandages for her knee. Looking conflicted for a moment, but also like he knew something that Angela did not. “No.” he replied. “I think… All-Mother intended for you to find it.” he said after a long while. “What has it shown you?” Angela would sit down across from him and let him wrap her leg, from there she would explain everything that she had found and heard.

Eventually going on to ask him what some of the big words she found meant.

Turns out he didn’t quite know everything like she thought he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 07/24/2017 - Replaced 'Faro' with 'Volskaya' [I never said I was smart]  
> 07/24/2017 - Rating changed from Teen to Mature


	2. I'll Welcome You With Open Arms (for you were always one of us)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Minor edit in Chapter One, Faro was replaced with Volskaya, when I was going through my drafts I noticed my error... spoilers...

Angela would rip her spear out from the carcass of the Sawtooth and chuck it aside before dropping down beside it. Skilled fingers already at work taking parts of the damaged machine apart to see what could be salvaged. Most of it was warm to the touch and twisted out of it’s original shape. Useless.

The nineteen year old would groan loudly as she leaned forward, resting her head against the body of the Sawtooth. Her eyes darting behind her when she heard Amari approach. She watched as he looked at the machine before pulling out one of the tethers from her Ropecaster from its flank.

“You said you were going to get a Tripcaster.” he commented before leaning against the machine. Angela would roll her eyes as she tossed another scrap part behind her.

“I did.” she replied. “He only wanted a Scrapper Lens, I had enough shards to cover the cost of both.” she muttered as she shifted her head from her makeshift pillow. “This, test, to kill this Sawtooth, is there some… meaning… to it? Some wise wisdom that I need to understand before the Proving?”

The Proving. After that day when the six year old Angela had fallen in those old ruins and found her Focus, she had pestered Amari for answers. He was unable to provide answers and eventually gave her a goal. The Proving. A ritual for those coming of age for the Tribe that shunned them. Angela had little love for the Nora, condemning her to a life as an outcast, a criminal, for an act she did not commit, for she was only days old when placed in Amari’s hands.

Nonetheless, if she won the Proving that was to be held tomorrow, she would be made one of the tribe and granted a boon. Angela sighed as she leaned to the side, rubbing her face with her hand, before realizing it was covered in machine oil. She made a face before rubbing her hand on her leg, it only make things worse.

“No.” Amari replied after a moment. “When… the High Matriarchs gave me to you, they wouldn’t tell me anything.” he admitted honestly. “All I know, is that they made you Outcast because…”

“I don’t have a mother.” Angela almost spat out as she dislodged a Blaze line from the Sawtooth, the brading could be traded once it was cleaned. “And with the way the Nora honour our mothers it makes me an abnormality.” she rolled her eyes, Amari chuckled.

“You and your big words.” he complimented and Angela just blushed as she looked away, hand coming up to rub at her Focus. Over the years the device had done what it had promised, teaching Angela how to read better and how to understand the machines and their patterns. Eventually it relented and gave Angela access to the files of the previous owner, much of it was corrupted but there were some stories there that she loved reading and rereading. “Angela.”

She looked up at him.

“When you were a child, I thought I could raise you to be a better Nora than I was. You quickly taught me that it would be impossible.”

“You mean after I saved that girl from those Watchers ten years ago…”

“That was the tipping point, yes...” Amari’s shoulders fell, defeated, hand coming up to brush his beard. He could still remember that day. They were three years into Angela’s training for the Proving, once again ahead of the average Nora child. It was then when Amari had really learnt that Angela was meant to go on and do great things once she was older, that the laws of the tribe would only serve to cage her. Towards the end of that day’s hunt they had heard a child cry for help as she clung onto the ledge of a Brave Trail she was far too small to be attempting.

When she fell Amari tried to pull Angela way, telling her to do nothing, for helping the girl would not only be breaking the law but would only serve to get them both killed. Angela would pull away shouting at him that someone had to at least try and if he wasn’t, she would.

It was that day that Amari truly understood that Angela could really see the unseen with her Focus, that she had more than a keen eye for picking out parts of active machines.

“You’re not meant for the Nora.” Amari started up again. “What I should be telling you, is to serve your tribe with pride after the Proving tomorrow, but deep down, you and I both know, you are not meant to be one of the tribe.”

“Amari if this is about-” Angela stopped when he held his hand up.

“I think, it’s only fair you know my story.” he replied as he opened his pouch, pulling out a small bone carved necklace, it was carved in a shape of a bird, a Stormbird probably. “I swore to never speak of it but…you’ve twisted me enough that it’s only fair I break a few rules of my own.”

“How you became an Outcast?” Angela asked, he nodded as he lifted himself to sit on the body of the Sawtooth properly.

“Four years before you were born, I had a mate and daughter, just a little over a year old.” he started his tale. “We lived in Mother’s Vigil, the settlement closest to Daytower.” Angela had only heard of these places, having never been there herself, it was impossible for Outcasts to get permission to leave the Embrace if they could not speak to the Braves who kept the gates closed. “A dozen outlanders raided us, killing several and kidnapping several more, my family among them.”

“That’s terrible.” Angela whispered, her attention no longer on trying to salvage parts from the Sawtooth, but finally getting a story from Amari, one she had been asking about for years. “So what did you do?”

“We followed them, but the bandits were aware of our laws, and dragged those they had kidnapped outside our borders, to lands we could not touch. They mocked us, knowing that we could not reach them and…” he paused. “My mate, who had stayed calm to protect our daughter and the others, finally fought back when they started killing. They became exiles the moment they crossed the borders, she must have figured it was worth dying on her feet rather than her knees.”

“Exiles?” Angela paused. “But they had no choice!”

“Law is law, the taboo was broken, they would not be welcomed back into the Sacred Lands.” Amari replied. “We begged with the Matriarchs but they would not move. It was at that time when my mate had fought back against the bandits. When we had returned… many were dead with their throats cut, and she was… not there… and....the children were...” he tightened his grip on the carved Stormbird in his hand, he couldn’t finish but Angela could only assume the worst. “I returned to the Matriarchs and begged them to be made Death-Seeker.”

Amari would pause his tale for a moment and Angela would take the time to absorb the story that was being told. From her understanding, the Nora laws, and the taboo, was extremely unfair. The families unwillingly broke taboo and the Matriarchs did not care.

“What is a Death-Seeker?”

“One who dies to go seeking, and in seeking, brings death to others.” Amari replied. “Back then I would not dare to break taboo, now, after raising you.” he smiled. “If I was faced with that situation once more, my choices might be different.”

“I only see the unseen.” Angela chuckled. “And maybe I’m just a little too smart for my own good.”

Amari would smile softly. “They granted me that wish and made me a Death-Seeker, I was able to leave these lands to find and kill the rest of the bandits under the agreement that I would not return, for in the eyes of the All-Mother, I was already dead. So that’s what I did, traveled to every corner of the Outlands and killed every last one of them.”

“But you never found them, otherwise, you wouldn’t be here, with me.” Angela finished softly as she decided to bring her hands up and brush them through her hair, feeling some tangles and knots along her blonde locks that were not done up in braids. She pulled out a piece of grass, wondering how long that was in there and how long Amari would stay silent about it, he was a jokester like that.

“Know that I am proud of you Angela.” he said softly. “And whatever happens tonight, tomorrow, know that I’ll never forget you.” he stands slowly, holding his hand out for Angela to take. It was nearing daybreak now, they only had a few hours left before Angela would have to head to Mother’s Heart.

“If I decide to leave the tribe, you won’t travel with me?”

“Angela, don’t lie, we both know you’re dying to leave these lands. You want to spend your time down in the ruins of the Old Ones and discovering everything that you can. You’re curious, but you already know everything that the wilds and I have to teach you, so you need another adventure, another goal. Being a Brave, that’s not you.”

“Why did you come back?” Angela changed the subject quickly, remembering that Amari said that Death-Seekers were not to return, yet he was here. “Why won’t you leave again?”

“The Sacred Lands are my home.” Amari would reply. “And these old bones, aren’t really up for another adventure. When I had finally killed the last of those bandits and failed on finding my mate. I was a dying man. So I decided it was worth dying as close to these lands as I could rather than somewhere, lost in those Outlands.” he would bow his head. “I collapsed just outside the border, and a passing patrol saw me. They were from the village, they knew that I went out to avenge me. Law states that they should have killed me where I lay. One of the Braves broke taboo and pulled me back, she too had lost her family to the men I had hunted, her son was friends with my daughter.”

He would stand up, looking at Angela. “We should head home, clean up and rest before you head over to Mother’s Heart.” he placed his hand on her shoulder. “You are just as much my daughter as the one I have lost, don’t think for a moment you replaced her.”

* * *

Code fragment downloaded:   
  
///   
 [function: true]   
   {{Light of the moon}}   
   {{Moves west, flowers' shadows}}   
   {{Creep eastward.}}   
 [function: true]   
///

* * *

“So loud, must be hard to think.” Angela muttered, Amari would smile as clap her on the back.

“You will get used to it.” he said. “Should you decide to stay, beyond our borders there are other settlements, larger than this.” he would move to stand in front of her, placing his other hand on her shoulder. “Angela, once you’re inside look for High Matriarch Teersa, she will guide you.” he would pause. “I wish I could be there to watch you run in the Proving, but you and I know that will be impossible.” 

“Outcast to Brave to Exile.” Angela sighed softly. “If I didn’t want these answers so badly I’d just go straight into become an Exile.” she crossed her arms. “If my Focus could give me all the answers the choice would be easy.”

“There are ruins north from here.” Amari spoke up. “About half a day’s walk from the gates. A large metal tower marks its place, but it’s underneath the cliff. “I found it one day when I was a Brave, but never went further when I realized what that place was. You can start there.”

Angela would turn to him, with wide eyes. Of course he would only speak of it now, because before she could not cross the gates. She had already gone back to the ruins she had found as a child. Listened to and read every log that she could find. Among those ruins she had found a small device her Focus had labeled as a Power Cell. Since then it had it’s own hide pouch that she carried everywhere with her, just in case she found something that would accept it.

It was also there she had found her first Metal Flower, she didn’t harvest it, but had downloaded whatever information it had and quickly went home to describe to it Amari. He had never heard of a machine that took the form of a plant before that day. Angela would look at Mother’s Heart then back at Amari.

“Do you have… any last words of advice?”

“Just once last… truth I’ve been hiding from you.” Amari admitted as he stepped forward, hand clasped around something. He would open it up and Angela would look down, seeing the Stormbird charm and another one she had never-

Her Focus flared up, her Focus recognized it. “Amari? What is this?” she would ask. “My Focus has seen this before.”

“When you were given to me, you were wearing this.” Amari told her as Angela picked it up in her hands. The Focus would scan it and come back with the word  _ Valkyrie  _ but instead of explaining what  _ Valkyrie _ meant it just described her the metals the necklace was made out of. However was thing was certain, this was a symbol from the Metal World. So why would her mother abandon her with that around her neck? Especially when such a thing was taboo to the Nora?

“This I why I said you are meant to do great things beyond the Nora, Angela.” Amari told her as he covered her hand with his. “Outlanders have found ruins, ruins that honour heroes of the Metal World.” he told her. “I found one during my time as a Death-Seeker, and this symbol was there.” he would tell her. “Then the dead machines would speak to me in words and sounds I could not understand, but two… two words made sense to me. Angela and Mercy.”

“My name.” she whispered, he smiled and nodded. She would look up at him. “Why are you telling me this now? Not before?”

“Because you weren’t ready before, If you knew before today what would have you done? You’d gone seeking long before you were ready. You would have gotten yourself killed, I did this to protect you. Is this not the same in the stories that little Focus has told you?”

Angela gave him a sheepish smile and nodded, he was not wrong. She would pull her hand away from his taking the Valkyrie Metal Necklace and putting it on.”If I was to search for these ruins, what would I look for?” she asked him he frowned trying to remember, it had been well over twenty years now.

“A circle.” he started. “With two hands together in prayer.” he make the shape with his own hands, his fingers flush together but his palms were not, forming a rough triangle. “It will be carved on their doors and faded on their walls. I do not know if the ruins to the north have these symbols or not.” he lowered his hands and placed them on Angela’s shoulders. 

“Angela, you are meant to do something great, don’t let your love for me hold you here, just keep going forward Angela.”

“Amari.” she didn’t finish as she ran forward and hugged him, if this was going to be the last time might as well make it worth it. “I hope you find peace while I am gone.”

He would step back, hands slipping from the young woman he had come to see as his daughter. “Live up, to everything you are and are meant to be, Angela. Dive into the great unknown, and never stop learning.”

“I will… Father.”

Amari would give her one last smile before turning away, leaving Angela at the bridge leading up to the gates. She would turn around to face the wood encampment, her hand coming up to press against her forehead before lowering her hand and steeling herself. “Okay, time to start another part of my life.” she said as she walked forward.

The settlement was loud, just as Amari had warned. It was impossible for her to hear herself think. People crowded everywhere, all in celebration of what was to come. The Proving was a coming of age celebration, was it not? She would stop just before the gates. Two Braves standing guard as they turned to look at her, both of them crossing spears. Silently telling her to turn away, for that was law.

“By law, as a Child Outcast I have the right to be here.” she stated firmly and loudly, the loudest she had ever spoken in hopes of being heard beyond the gate; one of them dared to spit at her feet. Action enough that she was going to be ignored and forced away. It wouldn’t do her any good to start a fight.

Thankfully her shout was heard as the door were pushed open from the inside, an elderly woman flanked by two more Braves who were pushing the doors. She would look up and lay her eyes on Angela and smile a soft warm smile only Amari had ever given her. “She is welcome here.” she told the two on the outside of the gates sternly before opening her arms out to Angela. “Mother’s Heart is open to you child, come.” she would turn away from Angela leading her into the village, the outcast slowly following, listening to the Braves at her back grumble, they were loyal to their laws and she could not fault them for that.

“Teersa?” Angela would ask, the elder would look over her shoulder and smile at Angela.

“Yes, yes, come now child, let me take a look at you.” she waved Angela over and Teera places her hands on Angela’s shoulders. “Amari has raised you well.” she would pause when she saw the Focus resting on the side of her head, there would be a small frown, Angela would realize she had forgotten to take it off. “Angela, would you call yourself… curious?”

An odd question.

“There is so much about this world that we don’t know.” Angela would respond softly. “Everything around us, whether it is living or dead, has a story to tell. I want to learn those stories, but the laws of the Nora forbid me from being… curious. Forbid me from learning the world outside and beneath our lands.”

“Then word yourself properly when you win child.” Teersa smiled. “You and I have both been waiting for this day for a long time. However right now I cannot be with you, tonight I have to take care of other outsiders tonight, for I trust you to be able to keep yourself safe.”

“Others?” Angela asked as she raised her hand just as a Brave walked close to her, guiding him away from her. “Who else is here?”

“An envoy from the Carja, another tribe from outside our lands, they have come to observe our Proving and…” a sigh and the shake of her head. “How the Nora hate the Carja!” she would see the look of confusion on Angela face. Amari had never taught her about the tribes outside their own; he probably felt it would be best for Angela to make judgements on her own. “You’ll see soon enough dear girl.” was another smile before she paused. “Actually there is an old friend who would love to see you again.” she gestured down the hill.”But for now enjoy the festival.”

Confused, knowing that she had no friends there, she couldn’t dare to call the few tribesmen she had spoken to in an offer to aid them friends, even if they didn’t treat her like an outcast. No name or face came to mind of who would request to see her upon her arrival. It left her standing alone at the gates just trying to comprehend what was going on. It was too much far too quickly. Angela would cross her arms, despite being in a place full of people she felt very much alone.

“Okay Angela.” she told herself as she looked around the village. “This is just another learning experience, just like the Sawtooth just… less claws, more words.” Rolling her shoulders back she would start her way down the hill looking at all the Nora gathered around, celebrating in food, dance and some of them with drink.

“Angela! Is that you? Angela!”

Hearing her name being called by a foreign voice, Angela had no choice but to look around trying to figure out who was calling her. It was another girl, dark skinned and slightly shorter running up to her. She wasn’t wearing a mark of a Brave but it took Angela only a few moments to remember that face she saw years ago.

“Efi?”

Efi’s face would light up. “You remember me! We were only kids when you saved me from those Watchers.” a laugh. “Mother was so mad at me, less about talking to you of course.” she’s lifting up a hide pouch she was carrying as an attempt to change the direction of the conversation. “High Matriarch Teersa said I might see you today so I have a gift for you! Long overdue.”  

“Efi, you don’t owe me anything.” Angela tried to wave it off as Efi tried to push the pouch in her hands. “It was years ago! I had almost forgotten until.” she laughed. “My father and I brought it up this morning!”

“No! If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t be here today! I wouldn’t be able to participate alongside you in the Proving tomorrow!” she finally got the pouch in Angela’s hands, it was heavy, something metal.

“You’re running in the Proving?” Angela asked as she opened the pouch, inside was pieces of machine plating fastened to leather, to be worn as armour. “Efi, you didn’t have to do this.”

“Please, if the Nora weren’t so shorthanded on Braves I would be a Stitcher.” she puffs her chest out slightly. “I have fun picking apart the plating of machines and finding ways for us to wear them comfortably.” she would wring her hands together slightly as Angela pulled out what Efi had made her from the pouch. Bracers and greaves along with a nice pelt that would go cover her shoulders, plating stitched onto the fur. All of this would protect her a little bit further and help stave off the cold during the upcoming winter.

“Efi, this is amazing work.” Angela would praise as she threw the pelt around her shoulders. “I’ve only seen boar skins this large, but isn’t boar, is it?”   
  
“It’s fox.” Efi said proudly. “It was a little bit of a challenge stitching the fur together so it looks like one piece, but I’m pretty happy with it.” she smiled. “All of it is fox, I felt like the orange fur suited your light hair better.” she explained as Angela fastened the fur in place around her shoulder with the supplied wire and ropes.

“May you show me how to put on the rest?”

“Of course!”

As Efi showed Angela how to layer the furs and fasten the metal plates in place, they had made a little bit of small talk. Angela telling a few stories about growing up with Amari. Efi would return with the story of the time she was chased by a flock of angry turkeys. Once the last piece was in place Angela would stand up and hold her bow, making the motion of firing it, feeling the plates sewn on the fur shift but not blocking her movements.   
  
“Everyone knows how to fire a bow. It would be no good to have armour that limits your movements.” Efi explained. “My mother is Orisa, the War-Chief.” she added. “So she taught me everything I know.” she laughed as she nudged Angela on the shoulder. “If you want to win tomorrow, you’re going to have a steep hill to climb.” she smiled. “But I’ll be happy to hunt alongside you when all is said and done, if you’ll let me.”

Angela read between the lines instantly.

“You’re, offering to be my friend?”

“Aren’t we already?” Efi laughed as she took Angela’s hand. “We should head to the Matriarch’s Lodge, by now the angry mob is probably something worth watching.”

“Teersa said something about Carja, I’ve never heard of them until today.” Angela admitted. “Who are they?”

“Another tribe that raided our lands a few years ago.” Efi explained as they started to walk. “The Red Raids they called it, a lot of Nora died, but they never made it through our gates, still people are still really upset about the Carja back on our lands, even if they here in peace.” she shrugged. “I’m sure we’ll see some fruit fly, people like to do that.”

“What about rocks?” Angela asked, remember the time when she was young when some kids threw rocks at her and made fun of her, the cuts had long faded, but the thoughts still hurt.

“Maybe spears.” Efi shrugged. “Some of the drunks would be more keen to do that. Come on.” she picked up the pace slightly and Angela would see a group of people, most shouting as they walked up to a large hut, the Lodge Efi must have mentioned. Another High Matriarch was trying to pacify the crowd by shouting over them, only serving to add to the noise. Eventually the Nora around them quieted down when they realized who was speaking. Efi would nudge her and tell her that it was Jezza, another one of the three High Matriarchs. Angela would quickly learn that the Nora had been at peace with these Carja for the last two years and the purpose of this visit was an attempt to restore the old trading routes. Efi jumping slightly in excitement telling Angela that she wanted to get her hands on some Carja armour, learn how they protect themselves so she could improve her own creations.

Eventually they would clear the small stage for a man in red robes, he didn’t look like much of a warrior, unlike the woman standing beside him with her arms crossed and looking bored. Angela would step forward trying to get a better look, her first time seeing Outlanders. The man in red didn’t really interest her much, he looked like someone that belonged in large shrines and temples, the woman however.

She was dressed like the Braves, leathers and painted blue metal with some silk dyed as dark as the night sky. The metal she wore wasn’t all simply stripped from machines, it was forged. The metal was shaped into impressive layered plate armour that fit her torso perfectly. She was wearing quite a combination of leathers and metal, more than the average Nora Brave. However something about her look also felt, incomplete.

This was something the Nora did not know how to do. Angela would lean to the side and nudge Efi and point at the woman. “Is she Carja too?”

“I don’t know.” Efi said. “I was told Carja warriors look like birds since they like to use Glinthawk metal the most, maybe she’s not wearing all her armour?” she tapped at her shoulders, Unlike the rest of the woman’s armour, it was rather plain and lacking.

Angela would shrug as the man in red stepped forward and opened a scroll, speaking loud and clearly as if he is used to addressing the crowd. The way he spoke wasn’t from the heart; he was just reading the words of another man, and the crowd around him started to boo. Efi would push Angela down just in time as fruit soared above her head and hit the man in red. The woman beside him would roll her eyes before stepping out before him, arms out and telling them to stop at the top of her voice, the crowd did. Angela suddenly realized that whoever had sent the convoy was smart enough to send a female warrior with them; because the Nora would listen to her.

“Nora faithful! Please!” the woman shouted, it was then Angela saw the strange black marking underneath her right eye. “I am Fareeha of the Oseram, I’m not Carja, so please… let me speak to you.” she spoke in a voice that could command warriors with ease. She placed a hand over her heart for a moment before curling her hand into a fist. “The Thirteenth Sun King was a murderous cretin, I’m sure we can call agree on that!” the moment those words left her lips the crowd cheered in approval. With that it seemed like Fareeha had gained a little confidence as she stepped forward. “He treated my tribe the same as yours, people we loved taken for his blood sacrifices. Even my own mother was taken!”

A murmur went through the crowd, the Nora honoured their mothers, Angela knew this much, the person who had sent Fareeha knew that if she spoke, she would say all the right words.

“The Thirteenth has been dead for two years now.” she told the crowd as she paced the stage, never once stopping to focus on a single point. “He was killed by the Fourteenth, his own son.” she paused, eyes watching the crowd, Angela would turn in time to see a Brave tuck his tomato away. “He wasn’t killed for power, but because someone needed to put a stop to him. Sun King Hanzo only seeks honour and redemption, nothing more, for there is no peace in conflict.”

She would step back when she got an agreement from the crowd, Angela looking at Efi the other woman smiling at her new friend. Everything Fareeha was saying sounded honest and true.

“All this priest wishes is to read to you an apology written by Hanzo himself. So please, lend him your ears just long enough for him to finish; and maybe, we can start making the steps together to change this world for everyone.”

“She’s good with words.” Efi said as she leaned towards Angela. “Would make an excellent War-Chief.” she looked up to see that Angela was looking elsewhere. “Angela?” she asked, but the blonde would raise her hand slightly a sign to wait a moment as she walked to the edge of the group. Off to the side was another Outlander; he wasn’t dressed like Fareeha or the priest, maybe a merchant? It was the signal her Focus was picking up, the signature of another one, one that was active, not dormant on the body of a dead Old One like the ones she had picked over in the ruins.

So Angela would stand in front of the man she assumed was a merchant, trying to get a look at his focus, his was glowing a yellow rather than the purplish blue hers had.

“I’ve never seen anyone else with a focus.” she finds herself speaking before her racing mind could catch up, the man would jump slightly when he realized someone was talking to him.He would squint slightly when he realized just who was talking to him.   
  
“A Nora with one of these? Impossible.” he shrugged. “You people fear the old places, forbid them!” he exclaimed and Angela had to bite back a laugh.

“Who said I’m like my other tribesmen?” she would reply. “I was only taught that those places were forbidden after I had fallen in and found this.” she pointed to her own Focus. “After that I figured it wouldn’t be a problem as long as I’m not caught.” she added slyly, the man would laugh loudly but would stop, cringing as he placed his hand over his ear, swearing.

“Something wrong?” Angela would ask, the man would sigh and look back at her.

“Just a malfunction.” he explained. “This device was damaged when I found it, so it acts up time and time again.” he would reply just as Efi would catch up with Angela.

“Hakim! Making friends? About time!”

It wasn’t Efi who had spoke, but Fareeha as she jumped off the stage to join the four of them. Hakim suddenly looking a little green in the face. “I should go.” he said quickly. “Nature calls, we’ll talk later okay Nora girl?” and before Angela could protest he was gone, Fareeha shrugging her shoulders while Efi just looked confused. It took Angela a moment to realize why he had left, he didn’t want her to get caught.

“And he’s gone.” Fareeha shook her head. “Don’t take it personally.” she smiled rather brightly at the two girls. “He gets a little skittish when the crowd is a little bit more than two people.” a chuckle. “Where are my manners.” she held out her hand to the two of them. “Fareeha.” she introduced herself. Angela would look at her hand but Efi jumped forward immediately.

“Efi!” she said quickly as she grasped Fareeha’s hand in a firm shake. “You were a great speaker, are you a leader back home?” It would get another laugh from Fareeha.

“Yes, I’m second in command for the Vanguard stationed in Meridian.” she explained. “And let me tell you, the Carja men there aren’t used to seeing warrior women. I should tell them to come visit the Nora, maybe it would teach them to show a little bit more respect.” she chuckled as she looked at Angela. “I didn’t catch you name.”

“Angela! I’m Angela.” Angela would say quickly, watching as Fareeha looked at her raising her hand up slightly and gesturing at the blonde’s ear. The Outlander had noticed her Focus but opted to keep her mouth shut, probably knew about the laws of the Nora and didn’t want to make a scene. 

“Sorry.” she apologize. “Angela? Sorry, it just feels like we’ve met before.” she chuckled softly. “Silly isn’t it? You’ve probably never left your Sacred Lands.” Her hand would come up and brush through her hair as she broke eye contact with Angela. “That was awkward… sorry.”

She had just apologized three times in the same moment, Angela had to think on it before Efi just continued to keep the momentum going.

“I’ve never seen armour like yours before!” she said as she took a step forward and suddenly Fareeha looked comfortable again.

“Vanguard Steel.” she said as she rapped her knuckles against the sturdy chestplate. “Ring locked, impact protected, it can choke a Sawtooth, but I wouldn’t suggest trying yourself if you’re still wearing it, it isn’t pretty.” she smiled at Efi. “A man might say it would give you trouble, but I think we would be equals.”

“You certainly have the durability,” Efi said as Fareeha raised her arm to let the younger woman take a closer look at the hammered metal. “But that metal must slow you down.”

“For the ill trained.” Fareeha replied. “But I doubt I’ll be keeping paces on any of your Brave Trails, but in a simple footrace, we could always try.” she smiled and Efi laughed

“I might have to take you up on that! It would be rather interesting!” she looked away for a moment before realizing. “Ah! Angela! We have to go to the Blessing!” she turned and pulled on Angela’s arm. “Will we see you after the Blessing Fareeha?”

That broke Angela out of her trance.

“Well, her whole envoy is watching the Blessing aren’t they? She can walk there with us.” she offered as she looked at Efi and Fareeha was smiling again.

“I’ll accept that invite.” she gestured. “Although I don’t know the way.”

“Oh! I do!” Efi said as she moved in front of the other two not before nudging Angela to get her to talk a little bit more with the Outlander, Angela would make a noise Fareeha turning to look at her with curiosity and Angela found herself speaking.

“I’ve never heard of the Red Raids until today.” and Fareeha is looking confused as amused. “I know I know.” Angela finds herself backtracking. “The tribe was at war and I didn’t even know, I was raised as an Outcast, shunned by the tribe.”

“I heard about that.” Fareeha muttered. “Needlessly cruel if you ask me; especially with children? They need a community to grow, shunning them will only hinder them when they become adults.” she paused when she saw Angela’s downtrodden expression. “I didn’t mean to insult!”

“No, you’re right.” Angela answered. “I only ever had my father to talk to growing up. Today is my first day in the village and I’m happy, and lucky, that Efi forced herself to be my friend.” Efi would puff her chest out as this was said. “Interacting with strangers is hard, so I’m also grateful that you started to talk to me first, Fareeha.”

“Well, you started a conversation with Hakim first.” Fareeha pointed out. “Different, circumstances though?”

“You can say that.” Angela answered. “Sometimes I just say things without realizing I’m saying them until I’m too late. My father tells me I tend to mutter to myself a lot, I guess to keep my own company when I’m alone.”

The three of them would fall silent as they walked. Angela seeing some distasteful looks shot her way by some of the Nora. Even if she was to become a Brave, she would still be an Outcast in their eyes. Although, she looked over at Fareeha and realized, maybe they weren’t looking at her, but at the Outlander walking around village as if she was a friend.

Maybe she was a friend? Angela would have to ask later, maybe Fareeha would be the type of person to help explain her things that Amari couldn’t. Getting to know her and Efi better, would make this experience worthwhile, and if she failed to become a Brave maybe she could get Fareeha to take her back to this Meridian place.

No, she wouldn’t fail, she would win, she knew that since she was six.

“Here, here!” Efi said as they entered another gathering, Angela stopping in her tracks when she realized she didn’t know what she had to do. It seemed like all the other Brave Candidates were gathered together around rows and rows of lanterns, she only knew that because she had seen the lanterns float up into the night sky when she was younger. She wanted to ask Efi what she needed to do but her new friend had gone ahead and was talking to another woman, her mother most likely.

Angela would jump when she felt a hand on her back, turning to see Fareeha was still there, that she hadn’t left to rejoin her own envoy. “The High Matriarch is waving you over, Angela.”

“Oh, thank you.” Angela muttered before making her way over to Teersa.

Teersa cared for her, just like Efi did, and hopefully, how Fareeha did to.

Maybe, forcing herself to become an Exile after tomorrow would be harder than she thought.

* * *

Code fragment downloaded:   
  
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///

* * *

Angela jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, gently placed there the same way Amari used to, she quickly turned her head to the side and Fareeha was kneeling beside her, a look of concern on her face. Angela almost wanted to laugh at the situation, an Outlander worried about the feelings of an Outcast.

“I don’t have a mother.” Angela would answer the unasked question. “They cast me out when I was born because she had abandoned me. The man I call my father isn’t my father by blood, but an Outcast that Teersa entrusted me to, but that doesn’t change anything, he’s still my father.”

Somehow, talking to an Outlander made telling her everything, easier, she wasn’t bound by Nora law or their beliefs, her reasonings wouldn’t be like Amari’s or Efi’s. Angela would shift her legs and she would be sitting on the ground, a following rustle of Fareeha’s armour and the Outlander was sitting beside her as well. “I don’t know… what to say.” Fareeha replied. “I know this system of shunning is cruel, even moreso to do it to a child who has no say in the world around them. How do they find it right to punish you for something you were incapable of doing?”

“That’s why I’m here.” Angela said. “If I win the Proving tomorrow I’ll be granted a boon. With that boon I’ll get all the answers I need.” she stood up slowly, Fareeha looking up at her before she too returned to her feet. She would exhale. “My father thinks I am meant to do more than becoming a Brave, he figures that once I win tomorrow and get the answers I’m looking for, that I should leave, become an exile and search for answers the Nora will never be able to give me.”

“You can always find me in Meridian.” Fareeha piped up suddenly. “If leaving your tribe behind is something you feel like you must do, then take the time to seek me out. I’ll do what I can to help you.”

“You just met me.” Angela would turn to look at Fareeha. “Why help someone you just met?”

“I can give you a political answer and say it’s to help promote peace across the tribes.” Fareeha said without missing a beat. “Or tell you it’s the right thing to do.” she moved her hand slightly in a gesture Angela didn’t recognize. “I just feel like the moment you leave your own borders you’ll be a Snapmaw away from the river. My mother always taught me to help those in need, even those who don’t think they need it.”

She wasn’t wrong. The more Angela thought about it. If she was to muster up the courage to leave the Sacred Lands she would be an exile, the Nora certainly wouldn’t be able to help her and Amari already said he wouldn’t leave again, so she would have to trust Fareeha to help her.

“I can’t answer you right now.” Angela said softly. “While I’m thankful for the offer, there is a lot of information that I need to, discover and understand, first.”

“Angela!” Efi called out as she waved her new friend over. “Will you join me for dinner?”

Angela would take a moment to pause, looking at Efi and back at Fareeha.

“Can she join us?” Angela asked quickly and Efi laughed as if Angela just asked a silly question.

“Only if she’ll talk armour to me! I want to learn about this ring locked stuff!”

“There is no law stopping me from teaching our ways of armour making.” Fareeha laughed. “Fine! I’ll show you how to choke a Sawtooth!”

Maybe her first night in the village wouldn't be so bad. Angela figured. Although she knew she would miss Fareeha’s presence once she left. She very much reminded her of Amari.

“Hey, Fareeha?” she asked, capturing the attention of the Outlander.

“Yeah?”

“If I win the Proving, will you tell me more about your tribe and lands before you leave?”

Fareeha would just smile at her. “When you become Brave, I’ll answer any question you have.” she replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Half of the next chapter is sitting as a draft, and I kinda only write when I'm at work.
> 
> As of right now, Amari's fate has yet to be set in stone, we all know who he is, so what's the best fate for him?


	3. I am Not On My Own (cause I am)

Efi had parted ways with her earlier than evening and Angela found herself spending maybe an hour or more with Fareeha. The Oseram was more than happy to continue to talk to Angela, it was two very different views of the world meeting for the first time. As demanding as Fareeha seemed at first glance, further talks showed Angela that the older woman was caring and just to everyone, tribes and beliefs didn’t matter to her.

“So you lost your mother to the Red Raids?” Angela asked, wondering it it was okay to bring it up now, and Fareeha started laughing.

 “Lost? No!” she shouted gleefully. “It will take much to kill Ana.” she shook her head. “The old coot of a Mad King might have taken her but he never managed to spill her blood.” she placed her arms on her hips, brimming with laughter. “Warrior Women are rare outside the Sacred Lands. Well, everyone calls it the Savage Lands to be honest, but my mother sees that name is an insult to the Nora, and now that I’ve finally seen your tribe, I have to agree with her.”

“Then your mother taught you how to fight?” Angela tried agai;, Fareeha nodded.

“I don’t have a father.” She replied. “Something like that isn’t a problem with the Oseram, but it’s a problem withe the Carja. It’s kind of a reverse of your situation just with… much less shunning.” Fareeha was backing up as she spoke, trying not to make her situation sound worse than Angela’s. “I had to fight three times harder than the men to even be seen as an equal. Of course that’s now all changing with Sun King Hanzo. My mother is the captain of his Vanguard and I’m the second. He just rewrote laws to accept women and those of other tribes. Of course those set in their ways, are having a hard time accepting this change.”

“But it’s all working out, right?” Angela asked. “If more people see the way the Nora are, maybe it will help with equality throughout the tribes.”

“Equality?” Fareeha asked, confused.

“It’s a word from the Old Ones…” Angela would touch her Focus, Fareeha had explained earlier that with Hakim having one she had an idea that those with these trinkets could see things that otherwise shouldn’t be seen, but that was all. “Sun King Hanzo wants peace among the tribes right? He wants men and women to be treated the same? That’s equality, in a sense.”

“So to have peace, there needs to be equality?” Fareeha sounded out the word slowly, testing it on the tongue. “Yes… I can agree with that.”

A little after that Fareeha would force Angela to retire to night. It wouldn’t do her any good to run the Proving deprived of sleep, and while Angela felt she could protest that just to spend more time learning about the Carja and the Oseram and the changes Sun King Hanzo was trying to accomplish. The Vanguardswoman was right, Fareeha would promise to meet up with her after the Proving before she left to return to Meridian. Angela figured it would be then, if her boon did not satisfy her, is when she would ask Fareeha to take her to the City of the Sun and help start her life as a Nora Exile.

High on her conversation with Fareeha, and excited to see Efi again, she would make her way up to the lodge where a single brave was standing watch. She would walk up to the door and the moment her hand pressed against the wood she heard him.  _ Motherless chuff. _

She would stop.

“What did you say?”

“I said.” The Brave would turn around. “Find your bed Outcast, and dream of winning the Proving, that’s the closest you’re ever gonna get.”

“So that’s why they have you guarding the bed house? Angela found herself speaking quickly in her burst of anger. “Because you don’t have the balls to protect the gates?”

That was enough to anger him, enough to force him to try and have the last word, but Angela ignored him as she slammed the door in his face.

Of course inside was no better than outside, the other candidates were there but before Angela could even find Efi another was already calling her out. “Looks who finally come in from the wilds! The  _ Motherless Outcast!”  _ Angela would look and find a blond boy pointing and mocking her. She would bite her lip, she could remember that boy, he was the one that had thrown rocks at her when she was young. “I still see you have that scar from when I hit you.” he would say, Angela would lift her hand to her brow, the cut was so faded now it she had forgotten it was even there. How did he notice? Of course, he was looking for it. “That day was a cherished memory.”

“You can be a real ass sometimes Bast.” Efi had jumped down from her bunk and stormed up to the boy. “Cut it out.” she sneered before turning to rejoin Angela but she had held up her hand. She wasn’t sure how sharp she could be but it was only worth trying as she balled her hand up into a fist.

“You even tried to dress like a Nora, not that it fools anyone.” Bast smirked and Angela felt the need to punch him across the face.

“So this holier-than-thou attitude is going to be normal with you?” Angela asked quickly, Bast just scoffed.

“That’s how it’s going to be with everyone. You don’t belong here in Mother’s Heart, and you certainly don’t belong in the Proving.”

“This is hilarious.” Angela would laugh in turn as she shook her head, turning to look at Efi. “I get this, I’ve seen characters like you.” she pointed at Bast. “You’re just a bully who feels the need to make people feel worse about themselves so you feel strong.” she smirked. “I can tell you this much, it’s not working.”

“I’ve trained all my life.”

“I was training when you were still picking berries in the fields.”

“I’ll show you tomorrow how strong I am!”

“You’re just a scrawny brat in the body of a man!”

“I often think of the day I gave you that scar…” Bast started and Angela noticed how he had changed the subject. Bast was running out of things to try and get a step up on her, so she just crossed her arms and waited for him to pause, drumming her fingers. “I branded you that day to mark your shame.”

“All it did was force me to live up to my legacy.” Angela snapped back. “I’ll show you tomorrow.” she stopped, realizing that Bast had finally gotten her to show anger rather than just annoyance.

“This is boring.” Bast waved her off. “You’ll be the one surprised tomorrow, not me.”

“Oh so you’re going to stop talking? Because that will be a surprise.” Angela bit back before turning around, walking towards the door wondering if maybe the Carja Envoy would let her stay with them but Efi would get between her and the door in a flash. 

“That was amazing!” she was jumping on the balls of her feet. “That would be enough to keep him quiet. For now anyway.” she looked over Angela’s shoulder. “If anyone is going to surprise anyone tomorrow it’s going to be you Angela.” she smiled. “Of course in the end, whoever is going to win will be either you, me or that idiot Bast.” she rolled her eyes before pushing Angela to a bunk in the corner of the lodge. “But a legacy? You never told me you had a legacy? Can Outcasts have birthrights?” she would force Angela to sit on a bed and soon joined beside her.

“It’s… not something I can really share.” Angela muttered but Efi just pressed up against her. “Efi!”

“It’s because it’s against the law right?” she whispered. “I see the thingy you’re wearing. That’s certainly not allowed by the Nora. So tell me, please, I won’t tell anyone. Especially my Mother, you wouldn’t want her knowing, that’s for sure… or the Matriarchs… but Teersa seems to like you!”

“Efi.” Angela started to stop her babbling and she stopped, Angela looked over at the others to see if they were watching, they weren’t, so she pulled out the Valkyrie Necklace and showed it to Efi. “This is the only clue I have.” Angela started to explain. “Symbols like this, can only be found in ruins of the Metal World. My mother abandoned me with something forbidden around my neck. They probably saw me as a bad luck charm.”

“But it’s beautiful.” Efi said as she took the necklace in her hands, looking at the charm. “I don’t think this is supposed to mean anything bad.” she traced her finger around the circle. “An embrace, but with… freedom.” she ran her thumb across the wings. “I would almost say this is an ancient  protection charm.”

“I came here, to find answers Efi.” Angela whispered. “That is what I will ask for when I win tomorrow.” There was no ‘if’ it was ‘when’ Angela knew this. She would not lose to Bast and she wouldn’t be surprised if Efi let her win now. “Then, if I don’t get the answer I want, I’m asking Fareeha to take me to Meridian.”

“To be Exile?” Efi gasped. “No!” she would take Angela’s hand in hers. “Ask to be made Seeker!” she smiled. “It’s not common, but it’s your boon! They can’t deny it to you. It’s a blessing that will let you leave the Sacred Lands without becoming Exile.” she smiled at Angela. “The blessing will let you break taboo.”

Angela was silent. She would never be able to forget Amari’s story of him becoming a Death-Seeker. Was this something that replaced Death-Seekers to prevent another case like his from happening again?

“Thanks, I’ll consider it.” Angela smiled as she looked around the lodge. “I do think I need to turn in.” she continued. “It’s been an eventful day.” she admitted and Efi laughed.

“You took quite a shine to that Outlander!” she nudged Angela in the side. “Make sure you get her armour secrets next time yeah?” 

* * *

 

Code fragment downloaded:

  
///   
 [function: true]   
   {{Lightning flash—}}   
   {{what I thought were faces}}   
   {{are plumes of pampas grass.}}   
 [function: true]   
///

* * *

Her lungs were burning as she sprinted through the snow. She didn’t have the luxury to slow down with the way Bast felt the need to sabotage her right at the start. It didn’t matter, now, she had caught up. She was in the lead with Efi and Bast at her heels. A stumble now would make her lose the victory. The Grazer horn in her hands suddenly feeling heavier and heavier the closer she got to the end.

She would skid onto her knees

Force the Grazer Trophy into the snow.

Close her eyes and wait.

“She cheated!” Bast would roar.

She didn’t cheat, he did. When he had shot her first trophy out of her hands and forced her into dead last. From there she just had to get down the mountain. The mountains had never scared her, they were her home, so she took the most dangerous, yet quickest, path down. There were no rules otherwise.

“An Outcast? Win the Proving?!” The Matriarch shouted for everyone to hear. Angela just closed her eyes. Wondering if it was worth praying to Mercy or the All-Mother now. “Never!”

Angela clenched the snow underneath her hands.

“For she is Brave now.”

“You did it.” Efi cried out as she clapped Angela on the back. “You did it!” Angela herself couldn’t concentrate on anything else, everything around her becoming white noise. She didn’t realize she was still being spoken to until the Matriarch was in front of her, hand on her shoulder.

“-gela, once Outcast now Brave who was first among-” she stopped when there was a crack, Angela stumbling forward when she felt the impact on her shoulder. She had forgotten about the new armour she was wearing in the rush of everything.

“Angela!” Efi called out as she picked up an arrow, it had shattered at the moment of impact against her plating. Angela would turn to look in the direction it came in just in time to see a hailstorm of arrows fly over the mountain top. A wordless shout left her own lips as she pushed the Matriarch down to protect her from the hail of arrows. However it just wasn’t enough, the new Braves were being shot in the back, lifeblood splashing against the white snow as Angela bit her lip.

“Get to cover!” Efi shouted as the others scrambled, Efi guiding them to take cover under rocks where arrows would have a harder time hitting them. Angela would look at the Matriarch she was still protecting and back at Efi who was behind another rock with Bast and other Braves.

“The way down is there!” Efi shouted over the fire as she pointed at a rope, a Zip-Line to her Focus, ‘Slip-Wire’ to the Nora. “But with this attack.”

“Fish in a barrel.” Angela muttered as she glanced over the rock to see men dressed in clothing she had never seen before firing down on them. Not trying to kill them, just keeping them pinned. They were buying time, probably for a larger attack.

It didn’t make sense, last night would have been a better time to attack. Angela would feel for the bow slung on her back as she looked at the Matriarch, the older woman looking a little more unnerved than scared, probably thinking the same thing. “They can’t keep attacking if they’re dead!” Angela shouted at Efi. “I can get behind them but I need them distracted!”

“Bast?!” Efi was knocking an arrow on her bow, and Bast was smirking.

“I’m with you!” he shouted, the last of the surviving Braves cheering with him.  _ Oorah! _

The Matriarch, I’ll equipped to fight, even if she was able, would placed her hand on Angela’s shoulder. “May All-Mother protect you.” she whispered; Angela would nod and look at Efi.

“When it’s clear, she goes down first!” Angela ordered, Efi would nod in agreement before Angela would take off into the tall grass to get to where the attackers were. Her feet slipping in the snow as she slid into the grass and waited a breath, to see if they had noticed her. They had not. Slowly she would pull back the string of her bow and level it with the head of one of the attackers.

She had never killed another human before.

It was then she hesitated to release the arrow, lowering the bow and aiming at his kneecaps. That would be better right. She wouldn’t be killing him.

_ But they’ve already killed so many, what does it matter. _

A quick intake and the bow is lifted up again, she lets loose her arrow and it pierces through the side of the man’s skull. Silent and deadly as blood flies at the point of impact. The man crumpling uselessly on the ground, the white snow turning pink. Angela didn’t care anyway, falling back into the grass and trying to rein herself in. It was a kill in self defence. Killing these men are no different than killing angry Watchers are Sawtooths. She was protecting the Nora like a Brave should. She would notch another arrow. She won, she’d rallied the nee Braves and is leading the retaliation, they would have make her Seeker as her boon after this.

Angela would stand from her cover, arrow pulled back as she released it, slicing through a man’s throat. He would fall with a cry and that would be enough to catch the attention of other men. Angela would pull two arrows out of her quiver and release them. One would hit the snow and the other would get a man in the chest, angering him as he pulled a club off his belt and stormed her way.

Angela would stumble back hand reaching for another arrow but before she could draw it the charging man staggered with two more arrows in his chest. Angela would spare the glance to see another Brave lowering their bow, they were fighting back too. Grabbing her spear Angela would move behind another man, just like a Watcher, she told herself as she thrust her spear upwards, gutting the man.

She decided that blood was a little bit better than machine oil.

By just a sliver.

She didn’t have the stomach to savour the kill as she pulled her spear out and jumped off the ledge, her feet landing on the man’s shoulders. He’d stumble under the surprise weight and Angela would drive her spear home in a clean kill.

“Get the Matriarch down now!” Angela found herself shouting, Efi and Bast echoing her shout as the other Braves scrambled, protecting the Matriarch. About half of them were down the mountain as Angela moved to rejoin the others.

“What are we going to do, there’s too many.” Efi asked when Angela was kneeling beside her behind the same rock. “We’ll run out of arrows before they run out of men!”

“We’ll just have to get down the mountain.” Bast replied from behind the wooden totem he was using as cover.. “Those already down there are no doubt warning the tribe. We just have to get down there and rally with the other Braves.” Angela would pause when her Focus flared up, locking in on something outside her range of vision. Another Focus and this time he was carrying something massive and metal.

All of them heard the loud clicking noise then a whirl commonly heard in machines.

“Bast!” Efi shouted just as the new weapon started firing. They couldn’t see what it was firing at them but it was powerful, snow flying up in puffs and tearing through the wooden totem Bast was using as cover like it was thin hide. He would stand up to move out of the way.

Instead the weapon cut him down.

“Bast!” Efi shouted, moving to get on her feet but Angela grabbed her by the back of her shirt and pulled her back down.

“He’s gone, and you’ll be too if you walk out there.” Angela hissed, Efi looking at her with wide eyes. “He died immediately, there was no pain.” She exhaled slowly. “You need to stick to cover, and get down that rope the moment there is an opening.”

“The blonde dies now! Forward!” the man with the metal weapon shouted Angela would look at Efi.

“Are you listening to me?”

“I’m not leaving you alone! They want you dead!”

“Listen! The War-Chief is your mother! If there is anyone this tribe can afford to lose is me, not you, I don’t even know why they want me.” Angela said quickly and sternly. “I’ll distract the guy with the metal weapon and you just get down the mountain! Once you’re down there get Orisa to get the Braves up here if they haven't’ already started climbing!”

Efi would let those words sink in before nodding. “Okay.” she agreed as she picked up her bow once more.

“I’m going to try to kill the man with that weapon.” Angela told her. “My Focus should show me how to use it, then I should be able to kill the rest of them.” she shivered slightly, if it was the cold or the thought, she wasn’t sure. Efi would give her one last look and Angela would turn away back into the grass in hopes he wouldn’t see her. “Okay Angela… it’s just the Sawtooth all over again.” she told herself as she notched three arrows. “Who am I kidding.”

She would break cover and let the arrows fly. One would miss, the other would bounce off the attacker’s armour and the other would nail him in the bicep. There would be a roar of pain before the weapon was turned and fired at her. Angela would dive behind the rock.

“I’ll be back with Orisa!” Efi would shout before she was gone, leaving Angela alone with these men and the bodies of the dead. Angela would press her head against the back of the rock and reach for her quiver, four arrows left. She would have to start plucking some from the snow and hope they weren’t damaged. She strung two more and popped cover from the other side. Both of the nailing the attacker and forcing her to hide from another hail of arrows.

She had forgotten there were others for that moment.

Quickly touching her Focus to activate it, she quickly commanded it to scan the man’s weapon and at least tell her how to use the forsaken thing. It came back with what is was, a  _ turret _  from something called a _  Khopesh.  _ It didn’t help Angela understand anything. Turrets she had seen in things she’s read, but they were always describing something in the context of a settlement. She forced a further description as she shot an enemy archer down and it came back with something she did understand.

_ Gun _

Just like the one she found in the ruins, the weapon the Old One had used to kill himself. This weapon had torn through Bast like he was nothing. Did the Old Ones create this power, or was it forced against them when the Metal Devil rose?

“You don’t have time to think!” she shouted at herself as she pulled an arrow from the snow and fired it back at the  _ gunner _ . This once slit the side of his neck and it was all she needed. Quickly slinging her bow over her shoulder and her hand on her spear she charged the man who was trying to stem the flow of blood from his neck. He gurgled at Angela just as she swung the spear at his head, knocking him out or killing him, she didn’t know, he was dead anyway.

She was out in the open now, and the arrows were no longer flying in her general direction. One sliced her leg and another pinned off the armour Efi had given her. Her Focus highlighting what she needed to know as she hefted the Khopesh Gun. Another arrow slamming into the plate that protected her collarbone. She owed Efi three lives now.

Finger around the trigger, Angela realized she had no idea how to aim and decided to treat it like her Ropecaster, leaning the weapon against her hip and pulling the trigger.

She missed, but it was enough to scare the other attackers. The sound was loud like nothing she had heard before as she shifted to aim at the others. Eventually being successful and shooting them down one by one. When the last one had fallen and the weapon feeling a little bit lighter, Angela dropped it in the snow, the heat of the metal melting the frozen water around it and exposing the ground beneath it.

Gasping for breath she collapsed in the snow, only then noticing the arrow caught in her thigh. She snapped the shaft and crawled over to the gunner’s body looking for his Focus. She found it just as she heard the crunching of snow behind her, one more was still alive. She pocketed it before reaching for her spear, turning as quick as her leg would let her and falling into a lunge.

She smacked right against his chest, the man feeling just as large as a Strider, bouncing off the wall of muscle as a hand wrapped around her throat and lifted her off the ground as if she was nothing more than a rabbit.

Panic surged through her as she flailed against his arm, looking at him before realizing that his face was hidden behind a white mask, a bird, was all Angela could think as she struggled to breathe. Her legs kicking against nothing as the man carried her to the edge of the cliff. Metal World swears dancing on her tongue as the man pulled a dagger from his belt and held it up to her neck.

“Turn your face to the sun, child.” He spoke, his voice grave and almost rattling behind his mask. Angela could feel the edge of his weapon cutting into her neck, she could feel the warmth of her blood dripping down as her fingers dug into the leathers around the man’s arms.

_ They were after her. _

Angela gritted her teeth, eyes darting trying to figure out how to break free as the knife was cutting in further, she felt herself starting to choke as he fingers dug in.

Then she was dropped when the man grunted. She crashed into the snow, hand going up to try and stop the bleeding as she struggled to breathe. Rolling over she saw her savior. Amari charging through the snow with bow and spear. Releasing another arrow that the man in the bird mask had deflecting before he charged Amari.

Dagger met spear and Angela coughed and groaned, trying to get back up, but finally her injuries were starting to catch up, finally feeling every cut and bruise. Eyes looking around for a bow and arrow. Ears listening as the man and Amari fought against each other.  _ Move. Move! _

The sound of snapping wood and Amari grunting in pain. The sound of a blade being roughly pulled from the flesh of another.  _ No. No! _

_ Amari! _

She would black out.

“Angela.”

She would open her eyes to see Amari standing over her, his front covered in blood and he was breathing hard. Angela would gasp, unable to speak as he pressed something into her hand, her fingers wrapping around it. “Survive, you’re not on your own anymore.” he whispered before pushing her off the cliff.

As she fell she saw the mountain go up in flame, far too quick for a even a cry from Amari as the sky lit up.

_ No, I’m on my own now… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile in Canada; roads are closed because a giant spider is chasing a dragon.


	4. Of Metal and Flesh (as I become your reclaimer)

“She is dying!”

_She twists in the air, listening to the hum of machinery behind her ears, it’s not a fear but a comfort as her hands hold onto her staff. She would hear a laugh before looking up, a smile appearing on her lips. One hand leaving her metal staff as she reaches up._

“To take her there is blasphemy!”

_Her hand wraps around another, this one carved of metal; their entire body is. Massive wings of metal adorned her back, humming with the same noise. Fingers twining with hers as she’s pulled higher up. Eyes darting downwards and she realizes she’s flying, they’re both flying. Everything feels so, peaceful. They’re here for joy. She’s trying to see the face of the other._

“She should be near her mother!”

_The upper half of their face is blocked by their headgear, gold dipping down below their nose, she would see a soft smile before another hand of metal moved up to lift their headpiece. Fareeha’s face. “Angela, I’m so sorry.” Fareeha would speak, but she could only hear Amari’s voice before there was an explosion._

“You will doom us all!”

_The man in the bird mask would loom over her, dressed in dark leathers and metals she’s never seen before. A booming laugh as his hand lifted, fingertips of sharpened metal pressing into her face. “Born an angel, heaven sent” he speaks as he’s drawing blood, her blood. “Falls from grace are never elegant.”_

She’s screaming.

Gasping for breath as she sits up, hand going to her throat and she could feel it. The stitches holding her flesh together as it healed. Angela moved her hands away and looked at the rest of herself, bandages over every injury she had. They had found her before she bled out, still impressed that she had even survived the fall off the mountain. Coughing as she sat up she nursed the side that screamed with pain, she must have hit the rock when Amari had pushed her.

When Amari had given his life to save hers.

Eventually she forced herself to look around, the surrounding room was made of carved rock and lit by hundreds of candles. Eyes darting to the side she found a waterskin, quickly reaching for it and thrilled to discovered that it was full. Quickly draining half of it to sooth her parched throat her eyes settled on something else.

Amari’s carved Stormbird.

He must have pressed that into her hands before letting her go. Angela reached over and picked it up between her fingers, pulling it towards her, it’s corded rope slipping off the wooden table. A frown would cross her features as she moved it in her hands. The dream was spotty, but she couldn’t forget what she saw. Fareeha in a suit of metal, wearing wings of metal, like a Stormbird.

But how could she dream such a thing? It made no sense.

“Do you have any records of armor from your time?” she would ask her Focus, receiving no response. “Focus?” she would ask again before lifting her hand up and realizing it wasn’t there. She had gotten so used to the weight of it she didn’t realize it was missing. Quickly she threw the Stormbird necklace on, it hitting against the Valkyrie as she forced herself to stand.

The world spun.

Muttering to herself she picked up the waterskin and drained the rest of it, she had to find her things. She needed to make sense of her dream. Why was Fareeha there, who was the man in the mask? What was an angel?

Her Focus could shed some light on it, hopefully.

Then there was the matter of figuring out where she was and how to get out. Not to mention why the man in the mask was after her and why his gunner had a Focus.

And discovering Amari’s ruins.

Her own Focus and gear first, and maybe food and water.

Finally taming that rush of thoughts Angela took the time to look around as she stumbled out of the room and into the hallway. Everything was stone, furs laid out among countless candles to starve off the cold. She was thankful she didn’t have to go far to find her things. Everything cleaned and folded nicely in a wooden crate. All the tears from the arrows were stitched up nicely, Efi no doubt. Kneeling down Angela went through her pouches and was ecstatic to see her Focus and the gunner’s Focus in her pouch along with the old Power Cell. They hadn’t taken her stuff that was considered forbidden, that was blessing on its own.

Angela would pause when she saw something at the bottom of the container, her hand going out to pull it out from her fur and armour. It was another Power Cell. Someone had found a second one and decided it was best to give it to her? It was just another question worth asking later as she pulled out her Focus.

She could feel her heart rate soothing the moment she had that small familiar weight by her ear once more, the world lighting up once more as it took in her surroundings. The Focus quickly picking out the dormant metal of the Old Ones. Confusion would settle soon after, the place was build up like a shrine but carried so much of what was forbidden. This had to be the mountain the logical side of her told her. However weren’t only Matriarchs allowed inside? Why would she be allowed to rest and recover here?

“You have a whole list of things to do Angela, maybe before a Matriarch finds you.” Angela growled at herself before pulling on the rest of her clothing, the little bit of extra warmth was wonderful. Once her last belt was in place. The weight of the second Power Cell was a little bit odd, but could be dealt with later, she pulled out the other Focus.

“Show me.” she commanded as the device was scanned, trying to pull the information from it, her world would light up around her just before it sparked, surprising her as it slipped from her fingertips, popping with a puff a smoke, dead. An old swear dancing on her tongue as she looked around her; eyes darting to the flashing orange circles of corrupted data. Dead ends. Angela would sigh as she swiped her hand across to clear the data but it opened up a single point to her, a recording. A lead.

She would reach out and touch it and the point wouldn’t take it’s time, showing her the hologram of the man wearing the bird mask, the man that killed Amari.  _‘All commanders halt your activities, we have a priority target.’_ Angela would tense as she watched him, calmly, issue this words as if he was claiming he was going out to hunt for food.  _‘Avoid all contact with the Nora Savages, this is an assassination, if unable, leave no trace.’_ the man would raise his hand, revealing another datapoint.  _‘Targeting image attached, do not fail.’_

Angela would reach out and touch the attached file, it would open up a map of the Sacred Land in the way only birds and extremely skilled climbers could see. Red markers popped up over the Nora Settlements, places to avoid no doubt. Another movement of her hand and the map would be replaced with an image of herself.

_‘Who said I’m like my other tribesmen?’_

A single second from her conversation with Hakim, seconds before he had claimed a malfunction, the man in the mask had seen her through his Focus. Silently she would raise her hand up to her own reflection.

“How can you see through the eyes of another-” she was cut off as the hologram flickered, another woman stepping in beside her reflection. This one looked like her but was older, her blonde hair was shorter and pulled up high. Her clothing was nothing like she had ever seen before as the hologram also picked up metal wings on her back with a metal circle above her head.

 _“We don't have time to argue over this.”_  the woman spoke, an odd lit in the way she formed her words as she looked ahead at something taller than her.

_“Hold for identiscan”_

_“ATHENA I need you to hail Satya to my office immediately.”_ she pressed her hand against her face, exhaling slowly.  _“I don’t even have time to mourn.”_ she dropped her hand before the hologram would freeze, letting Angela step to the side, trying to get a good look, noticing a symbol on the other woman’s shoulder she would scramble through her own necklaces to find the one she was looking for, the one that bore the same symbol.

“I don’t understand.” she whispered to the hologram of the woman. “Where is this from? When is this from?” she would walk over to the front where her reflection and the other woman stood side by side, a twisted image floating between them with the number 99.47. Another look down at the symbol she wore trying to tie the ends together to come up with her own conclusion, was this other woman her mother?

Angela would close her hand over her Valkyrie Necklace. She would look up at the woman again, flesh and metal, she couldn’t be Nora. So could that be the reason why she was made Outcast? She would step around to the back, hand reaching out to hover over the image of the metal wings, they were smaller than a Glinthawk’s, there was no way she would actually be able to fly.

“Are you Mercy?”

Footsteps would break her from her trance as she quickly turned around, High Matriarch Teersa coming inside the shrine, having not seen Angela’s actions for the past few minutes.

“Angela, you’re awake, good, come with me quickly now.” she motioned for young woman to follow, Angela quickly gathering her bow and spear before following after the tribal leader. “I must show you something.”

“I… I have questions!” Angela exclaimed as she stumbled slightly to follow after Teersa, the elder woman turning around with a smile and waving Angela off.

“Let me show you, where you were born.”

* * *

Code fragment downloaded:  
  
///  
 [function: true]  
   {{Orchid breathing}}  
   {{incense into}}  
   {{butterfly wings.}}  
 [function: true]  
///

* * *

To be born here, inside the All-Mother Mountain, it would be impossible, impractical. Even if her mother was that woman made of flesh and metal the Nora would never let her in the sanctuary. Teersa has to believe in something, something that Angela just couldn’t conclude.

“Why did you bring me here?”

Angela realized she was speaking before her mind had time to filter her words.

“You were dying, and to die near one’s mother is sacred.” Teersa explained. “I do not know if he taught you that.” she chuckled.”Lansra fought against it of course, but Jezza sided with me, after everything you done for us.” she lead Angela down another hallway, countless candles lit, making the room feel stuffy, hard to breathe, almost.

“Is my mother here?” Angela would continue, hand tightening around her necklace. “Will I-” Teersa held her hand up with a soft smile.

“Please child, to show you, will be easier.” she would continue to lead Angela up to a door, the lock glowing to Angela through her focus, but the Matriarchs could see no such thing. However she had other things on her mind.

“Does she look like me, but with short hair and wings of metal?” she asked again before her mind could catch up, of course they wouldn’t know, she would have never been allowed near the tribe.

“I don’t see how that could be.” Teersa asked. “Or how you would come up with such an idea. Angela, there was no woman who gave birth to you.” she placed her hand on the door and it parted for the both of them. “The Mountain is your mother.”

“I…” Angela paused, trying to wrap her mind around the words. “I’m sorry… excuse me?” she was cut off when Teersa gestured to the room that was open to them, it was a large cavern, a claw of a Metal Devil had pierced through the roof but remained there, resting in its cold silence before a massive door.

“This is the Great Chamber, where All-Mother slew the Metal Devil.” The High Matriarch spoke as Angela looked around, the dark cave once again lit by candles save for the small spot of natural light from where the claw had broke the ceiling. “And gave birth to you.” she placed her hand on Angela’s arm. “The attack on the Proving is the first of many disasters. Orisa mounted a War-Party to hunt down those killers, most of them were slaughtered in an ambush.”  
  
“War Party?” Angela interrupted and there was a moment of hesitation. “No, that can wait a moment, what does all of this have to do with me?”

“Amari believed you are the rebirth of Mercy; one of All-Mother’s warriors who helped her fight against the Metal Devil. After all you came to us with her mark around your neck.” as Teersa said this Angela would clasp her hand around her necklace thinking over what Amari had told her, having found this symbol in the ruins of the Old Ones, so is this what had he told Teersa? “Mercy was one of the saviours! So everything! All of this has to do with you!” Teersa looked surprising proud of herself. “All of this, is to set you on your path, your destiny Angela.”

“I have never heard of Mercy before.” she lied, and Teersa looked surprised. “But… I’ve been having dreams. Of a woman who looks like me.” as she spoke Teersa was looking more and more pleased.

“The one with short hair and wings of metal?” Teersa asked, Angela would nod. “Child, I do not know. This story was never passed from matriarch to child. It was Amari who only spoke of it when it was time for All-Mother to speak your name. However, the only way to know if this is truth was to bring you here when you were older. For this is where we had found you.”

“Here?” Angela asked, gesturing to the massive metal plate before the the door. “Alone? In front of All-Mother?” as badly as she wanted to say  _door_  she didn’t want to ruin Teersa’s faith just so soon.

“Yes. We heard your cries and found you there.”

She already knew why the tribe could not raise her, for there was no need to push that forward, she looked at the door then back at Teersa. Amari had taken information he found from the Old Ones and crafted into legend. A legend that Teersa believed. Long before she was able to understand the world around her, he was setting her on the path to make a difference.

“The only way to know if this is truth.” she told herself as she stepped forward to stand in front of the door, feeling like quite a fool. “Please, give me a lead to Mercy.”

The door would glow and Angela could hear Teersa move down onto her knees in an act of worship.

“ _Hold for Identiscan.”_  a bodiless voice would speak, Angela would remain still but could hear Teersa whisper something in amazement. Angela would wait only to see an image of Mercy appear before her once more. Numbers rising up underneath her image. Eventually it would settle on 99.47 as a light moved up across her face.

 _“Error. Alpha Registry, corrupted. Identity, cannot be, confirmed. Access denied.”_ The voice would speak, its words sounding less like a sentence and more of a bunch of words just pressed together. Angela would feel her legs give out as she slumped onto the floor. It was truth, everything Amari had set her up for was truth, but it still meant nothing if it didn’t lead her anywhere.

“He gave you a lead.” Angela whispered to herself when she felt Teersa place her hand on her shoulder. She would turn to look at the High Matriarch.

“All-Mother spoke to you, as if she knew you!” she sounded so happy, Angela would shake her head but Teersa would kneel beside her. “But she couldn’t see you because of corruption. Angela, that’s what you must do. Heal her corruption and she will see you.” Angela would be quick to return to her feet as she turned to face Teersa.

“I have leads, Amari gave me some, and then those killers.” Angela would pause. “The killers came after me because I must look like Mercy.” she crossed her arms. “I can search Amari’s leads first, then for the killers… “

“Their power is overwhelming.” Teersa interrupted her, “Is there another way?” she asked

“Fareeha Vanguardswoman knows a man who was there the night of the Proving. The killers saw me through his eyes, she can help me find him.” There was no way that Fareeha knew that Hakim was working for those killers. At least, that’s what Angela had hoped. “They both live in Meridian.”

“So you’ll have to leave the Sacred Land.” Teersa pointed out, Angela sighed.

“Efi told me.” she looked at Teersa. “That I should ask to be Seeker, Amari told me that it would be in my best interest to become Exile should my boon not give me what I want.”

“You have not yet asked for your boon child.” Teersa smiled at Angela. “Come with me, and we’ll make it so.” she motioned for Angela to follow her out of the mountain, Angela quickly falling into step beside her.

“What happened to the War Party?” she asked and Teersa sighed.

“Orisa gathered a great War Party to go after the killers. Your Outlander friend even asked to join.” Teersa smiled at Angela. “But less than half returned. The killers have a great but terrible power. They corrupt machines, drive them mad. The War Party was not ready.” she would sigh. “Orisa is among the missing, and the Outlander begged for permission to call her warriors for aid, but my Sisters would not have it. The only thing they can agree on is to sing the Hymn of Atonement and beg for All-Mother’s forgiveness.”

“But the corruption blinds All-Mother.” Angela attempted to reason. “If she cannot see, she cannot forgive, nothing will change.”

“Which is why we have you.” Teersa turned to Angela. “Amari was right, showing you all of this, setting you on the path to claim your destiny. All-Mother intended you to reclaim Mercy’s legacy when the time was right! That time is now!” she would stop at the entrance. “The other High Matriarchs are waiting, please, let me do the talking. I did not tell them what Amari told me, laws of being an Outcast after all.”

She was a sly woman, Angela had just learned as she followed Teersa outside where Jeeza and Lansra were waiting. Jeeza would step forward, concerned. “Is it done?” she would ask, Teersa nodding.

“I showed her.” Teersa replied as she raised her hands. “And the Goddess spoke to her! Told her heal the corruption!” she would turn to Angela. “Tell them, tell them what All-Mother has shown you in your dreams child.”

“Of the woman with wings?” Angela asked, confused and Teersa looked like she was ready to start bouncing on the spot with excitement. “I don’t…” she would pause she needed to word herself so she still sounded faithful. “She fought alongside All-Mother against the Metal Devil with other warriors.” she looked at the other two High Matriarchs. “Her name was Mercy; but with the corruption blinding All-Mother she cannot see me, therefore cannot lead me to the other warriors so I can stop this corruption for good.”

“How would you do this?” Jeeza asked, Angela crossed her arms, almost as if she was hugging herself.

“She needs to leave the Sacred Lands.” Teersa told them, Lansra turned away, clearly upset.

“To be Seeker?” Jeeza mused over this for a moment. “If the Goddess spoke, it must be so.” and that was enough to make Lansra snap, storming over to Angela and looking down at her.

“You’d name this thing a Seeker?!”

“For once, side with us!” Teersa protested but Lansra would have none of it.

“Send it out seeking if you must, and pray that it never returns!” Lansra growled at them before storming over. Angela would frown as the other two High Matriarchs turned to her.

“Where will you go first?” Jeeza asked Angela, genuine in her inquiry and Angela suddenly found the ground rather interesting.

“The Outlander that helped War Chief Orisa.” she started. “She told me that if I was ever in Meridian she will do anything in her power to help me.” Angela explained. “Teersa told me that she tried to get permission to rally her men to help the Nora in this time of strife, but was rejected.”

“Outlanders cannot protect our Sacred Lands.” Jeeza responded, firm in her belief. Angela couldn’t fault her in that.

“Before she left.” Teersa placed her hand on Angela’s shoulder. “She said she try to rally her warriors to protect our lands from their side. There is no doubt in my mind that she only wishes for peace among the tribes.”

“She was in my vision too.” Angela blurted out. “Or… another woman who looked like her. I am not sure, but she too might be another warrior who fought against the Metal Devil in her life before. It was confusing at best…”

“It was All-Mother telling you to go to her first.” Jeeza spoke. “A clue to set you on your way.” She smiled. “The Braves spoke highly of this Outlander, she respected our ways and did not dare challenge them. These are trying times and now we have to look for blessings far beyond our lands.” she would stand with Teersa, both of them placing a hand on either shoulders. “By the holy grace of the one Goddess, we anoint you Seeker of the Nora Tribe.”

“No barrier can now stay you away from your sacred task. My All-Mother protect you and sustain you. Stay true.” Teersa would finish, Angela feeling extremely out of place but she knew all of this was to comply with the tribe.

“I’ll prepare the hymn.” Jeeza whispered as she parted from them. Teersa would look at Angela.

“The Outlander had tried to do much for us, even if she was one woman. Are you sure she will be able to help you?”

“If she cannot, her mother is the Captain of the Sun King’s Vanguard, If she is unable then I will ask the King myself for aid.” Angela explained. “They were after me because they know I am meant to reclaim Mercy’s legacy. Then that means they know about the other warriors and maybe, where I can find them. What they did was an act of war Teersa. Soon it would spread among the other tribes, and there will be battles much worse than the reign of the Mad Sun King. With their power to corrupt machines it will be as if the Metal Devil has returned.”

Teersa looked horrified at the thought.

“Efi told me, that a Seeker has the ability to go anywhere, deep in the Metal World or into the Outlands, but it sounds like something that one cannot ask for simply as a boon.” Angela admitted softly, Teersa sighed.

“It’s not, but no one has ever dared to ask.” she told Angela as she took her hand and pressed something against the palm of her hand. “This is your Seeker’s mark, so all may know who you are.”

“Teersa, there is one thing I must know. The Metal World is forbidden but now we are learning that even Mercy was a one from the Metal World, would that not test our belief?”

“If anyone can prove that All-Mother blesses all, it will be you child.” Teersa replied, Angela agreed to settle with that statement. Change could not happen overnight. They only had her word about Mercy, she would have to show them all that All-Mother’s warrior was one from the Metal World. “Efi is at the gates of the Embrace, she is one of the few who survived the massacre of the War Party.” Teersa added after a moment. “She can also set you on the path to Meridian, I know she followed the Outlander as far as she could.”

It was nice to hear that Efi was indeed still alive, even when her mother was missing. Angela mused for a moment, maybe she could try helping on tracking Orisa down, it wouldn’t hurt to have the War Chief on her side when push came to shove.

“Before I leave, I must know. What happened to Amari?”

“There wasn’t much left once the flames had died down.” Teersa admitted painfully. “We found what we could, of him and of the Braves that had died. He has a grave at the house where he raised you. I’ve laid flowers there myself.”

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done for Amari and I.” Angela bowed her head slightly, Teersa also repeating the motion. “I should probably make my way out, there is a long distance I have to travel.”

“May All-Mother bless you and watch over you.”

* * *

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* * *

Quiver restocked and a second pouch for the mysterious second power cell acquired Angela would start her trek down the hill towards the gates. Listening to the other Nora mourning around her. She could hear some people whispering about her, but it was nothing rude, it was words of praise. What stories did Efi and that Matriarch tell?

She was no longer Outcast, she was never Brave. She was Seeker.

A Seeker with the ghost of a Metal World hero either haunting her or guiding her path. Angela would pretend to test the string of her bow as she listened to a couple whisper about her. When it was just spreading rumours about what had happened at the Proving. She moved on towards the gate, there were very few Braves left. Just as Teersa had said. The gates closed, she would have to get them opened.

A quick glance told her that the only ones watching were up on the walls, a huff and she moved over to the ladder, climbing her wait up and stopping. She recognized the man there, it was the one she had upset the night before the Proving. “The Outcast approaches.” she heard a man speak as she continued her climb. “Ignore her.” was the response. “Report.”

“There are rumours of a Demon in the Embrace, a being of dark metal that corrupts every Machine it touches.” the other Brave reported as Angela pulled herself up onto the platform. Part of her was debating maybe it would be easier to simply jump the fence than it was to ask for the gate open. She would stand beside the reporting Brave and glance down, the fall would be hard, but doable.

“It’s because of the Outcast.” the Brave she had upset had sneered. “She had brought her curse her and now look at us!” Angela could feel his eyes on her as she turned to look at them, close to putting her leg over the fence. “What are you doing?!”

“Leaving.” Angela snapped back quickly. “But given that you most likely will not open the gates for a  _Seeker_  I figured I’d just climb.”

“Seeker?” the man was spitting. “Have Teersa and Jeeza gone mad?! Everything that has happened is proof that you are a curse!”

“Am I?” Angela would snap back. “I was anointed Seeker because I am All-Mother’s chosen!” she would walk right up to him, getting into his face. “I am to reclaim my rightful place as Mercy and I will not! Will not have people trapped in their ancient ways hold me back!” the man was stunned silent as Angela turned to the other Brave. He was staring at Angela with wide eyes, then it took a moment for her to realize he was not looking at her but past her. She would quickly turn around and would take a while before she realizes what she was seeing was real.

“Alarm! Sound your alarm!” A large man was shouting as he stormed up the path with trees and bush rumbling behind him. He was not dressed as a Nora Brave, but in Oseram Metal and carrying a hammer as tall as he was as if it was nothing. One of Fareeha’s men! He had to be!

“Like we’ll do anything for you-” The annoyed Brave had started to shout back but stopped when they all saw what was chasing the Oseram and was what charging the gates. The Demon was just as described, tall and made of dark metal, with a massive tail of no creature Angela had ever seen before. She would press her Focus as the Braves started shouting to sound the alarms, but how much of a difference would it make? They were already outnumbered.

 _ACA3-Scarab_ the Focus would feed back to Angela as she turned to jump down the rampart. The  _Scarab_ and its fleet of corrupted Striders and Watchers charging at the gate. She would hear the bellow of the Oseram and the crunch of metal as his hammer made contact with a Machine. She could hear the alarm and people shouting to protect the gates.

A Machine would crash against the wood and the Oseram on the other side would laugh loudly. Angela quickly scrambled for her Tripcaster.

“Trap the door if you can!” she shouted at other Braves. “They will break through!” she quickly shot a couple traps down. If they broke through with nothing to resist them more Braves would end up wounded or dead.

She had exhausted her stash of traps quickly, one or two others also having casters. In the moment she had dropped her caster for her bow the _Scarab_ had broken through with a collection of Striders. The Braves all ready with their bows and slings as the traps detonated. Some Striders fell immediately but the  _Scarab_ made it’s way through, making a noise that hurt Angela’s ears as it moved. She would watch as arrows bounced uselessly off the  _Scarab’s_ metal body just as the Oseram came storming in with his hammer. With a mighty cry he swung and struck the Machine; plates were torn off as it lost it’s balance only for a moment before it turned and fired what looked like fire arrows at him, forcing him to retreat.

“Focus the Striders!” Angela shouted at a nearby Brave. “Those with Ropecasters! Restrain the, Corruptor! So the Outlander can strike it!” she found herself commanding loudly as she pulled her Ropecaster off her belt, she had no idea where the name Corruptor came from, but it worked and felt more suited than simply ‘Demon’. “Give me a lead Focus.” she muttered as it sparked to life, lighting up her world and focusing on the Scarab. She would roll away to dodge a Strider, when her eyes darted towards it her Focus would scan over it, narrowing on the Blaze container.

She couldn’t risk it, setting the Striders off, with everything made of wood it would only cause more harm to the settlement than do good on stopping the Machines. Raising her Ropecaster she shot at the Scarab and it whined when it realized its what was going on. Turning to face her again just as Angela managed to reload and fire a second spike. Swearing she would move to try to get a better vantage, a quick look telling her that the Striders were down and the attention was turned entirely on the  _Scarab._

“Face me you coward!” The Oseram roared suddenly and the  _Scarab_  turned just as three more Ropecaster bolts struck it between its plates. The movement made it twists its legs and lose balance, collapsing on the ground. The moment it crashed the Oseram was on it with his massive hammer, striking part off with an unbelievable force as Angela ran up to him with her spear. The large Outlander was having the time of his life as he wailed on the machine that was struggling under his weight and the bindings. Angela would quickly drive her spear home behind what her Focus had identified as its power source, killing it instantly.

“It’s dead!” Some of the Braves would shout in a cheer as the Oseram raised his hammer up and pounded on his chest. Angela wouldn’t pay much attention to her surroundings as she used her spear to pry open the carcass of the  _Scarab._  It had a way to control the machines and she needed to know how. If she could find the part and harness its power. Suddenly getting to the City of the Sun seemed like less of a challenge.

The Oseram would jump off the  _Scarab_ as another plate fell off and Angela’s Focus picked up exactly what she was looking for. Quick figured grabbed the object and she held it up. Her Focus immediately downloading whatever the item had stored and started rewriting the code before her, telling her that she could use this.

“You must be Angela!” The Oseram shouted right beside her, a heavy hand coming down on her shoulder that made her knees buckle. “The Captain said I might find you here if you haven’t left!” Angela would struggle not to drop the device.

“Yes, I’m Angela.” she would smile as she held onto the object. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Reinhardt Vanguardsman!” Reinhardt introduced himself loudly. “I’m part of the team stationed at Daytower. Unfortunately Captain Fareeha is caught up elsewhere are the moment, so she asked me to come and check up on you and the Nora on her behalf.”

“Outlander! I must ask you to leave this once!” The irritated Brave shouted as he stormed up to Reinhardt. “Take that Motherless Curse with you as well!” he turned to Angela. “If you weren’t here none of this would have happened!”

“What did you just call her?” Reinhardt would turn on the Brave, his massive size ultimately just dwarfing the man. He shrunk slightly as he eyes darted at the massive hammer that could easily crush his skull.

“Just. Just get her out of here! Neither of you are welcome here while I’m War Chief!” he shouted and Angela would quickly look up.

“Orisa is War Chief!”

“Orisa isn’t here and while she is gone I am War Chief!” he shouted back, moving to storm Angela but Reinhardt stepped in his way and he faltered. Angela would look up at him and frown, suddenly feeling like she had met him before. Was this how Fareeha felt when they had met for the first time that evening?

“You have no honour!” Reinhardt shouted back at him. “She saved your life and yet you treat her as if she is the dirt beneath your feet!”

“Reinhardt.” Angela would place her hand on the man’s arm, unable to reach much higher than his elbow. “Let it go, you can speak to me outside these gates.” she told him, he would look down at her and agree with a nod.

* * *

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///

* * *

Angela would slowly rise from her kneel in front of Amari’s tombstone. Hesitant for a moment before turning to look for Reinhardt who was admiring one of the many Grazer training dummies that decorated the land around her home. Curious she would walk up to his hammer and run her hand across the forged metal. There was no wood, there was no risk of the weapon shattering if the impact was too great, it would explain why he was able to hit the _Scarab_  with as much force as he did.

“Corruptor is a good name, for those machines.” Reinhardt would start the conversation. “Their power is overwhelming. We were lucky that the Vanguard got to Daytower when we did, one of them was attacking the gates.” he would turn to Angela and place his hands on his hips. “Fareeha was right about you. You’re quick, both in body and in mind.”

“She sent you?” Angela asked. “Not to be rude, but why did she not come herself?” Reinhardt would laugh brightly at the question.

“She said she would ask that too.” he smile at her, Angela brushing her chin slightly as she found herself watching him a little too closely. She had never seen another man with hair as white as his. “She was with me on the way back but someone at your settlement. Mother’s Crown, I believe. Asked for her aid. She was recognized from the War Party I believe; did her best to help Orisa.”

“So she’s at the Crown?” Angela frowned. “I don’t know how to get there, I’ve never been outside the Embrace, and now the entire world is opened up to me, beyond our lands.” she felt herself crossing her arms, hugging herself. Amari was lost, the Nora have named her Seeker, and now Fareeha has already returned for her.

The world was changing, and she wasn’t ready.

“Gather what you need, take the time you need, and we’ll head to Mother’s Crown.” Reinhardt said softly, Angela would find herself nodding, unable to bring herself to say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean to post this before I left for the weekend, but I didn't finish the last scene and it ended up being so much shorter than I thought it was gonna be. Oh well.


	5. Sharing Tree Shade With a Butterfly (friends in another life)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slightly shorter, had a hard time with getting into the flow of writing

“Angela! Reinhardt!” Fareeha’s voice would cut through the white noise of the constant whirring of the Machines. Angela would look up from the campfire she and Reinhardt had made just as the Oseram made it through the tall grass to meet up with them. She was wearing more armour than the night she saw her before the Proving. Heavy armour adorned her shoulders holding in a cloak made of fur and feathers in place to help her keep the cold away. It was almost as if she had wings. “I heard one of the Dark Machines broke through ranks when Corrupted Sawtooths pushed on the gates. Efi was really upset about it because the Braves are pulled so thin between the machines and the bandits.” Fareeha explained as she sat on the ground beside them, her attention more on Angela than Reinhardt.

“Is Efi okay?” Angela asked, Fareeha shrugged.

“She’s shaken, but she’s determined.” Fareeha spoke up. “With the attack on the Proving, the War Party Massacre, and her mother going missing. It’s rough. She’s in a spot that would normally take years to get to and she’s there in the matter of days.” she sighed “The Matriarchs were against me coming back with my team to help them protect their lands, but ultimately.” she looked at Reinhardt ‘We decided to go against their wishes. It wouldn’t do anyone good if all the Nora are killed off by bandits.”

“In the morning I can return to the gate.” Reinhardt offered. “Help young Efi as long as I am able or allowed.” he would pause. “The new War Chief is an extremely rude man, blamed the Corruptor attack on Angela here.” he would gesture to Angela who found great interest in the fire right afterwards. “I would suggest getting someone to try and search for Orisa. There are those Tenakth Junkers you picked up.”

“I don’t know if having them protect the Sacred Land is the best idea Reinhardt.” Fareeha replied. “I have this feeling they have little love for the law, so to abide by the Nora would be extremely hard for me to trust them to do so.” she thinks for a moment. “Maybe I can take the Utaru off border patrol, put the Tenakth there… then have the Utaru help look for Orisa..”

“Isn’t the Vanguard all Oseram?” Angela found herself interrupting, Fareeha would look up.

“The Vanguard is the squad my mother leads; they’re all Oseram and they’re back in the Meridian. I’m still her second but after I came back with word of the attack on your tribe, the Sun King allowed me to start my little project in hopes it will help. So I’m recruiting anyone from any tribe who is willing to fight for peace among all the tribes.” Fareeha looked up at Angela. “Or those who have no place to go and is willing to do honest work. Like the Tenakth Junkers we mentioned.”

“We still call ourselves Vanguard because this team is still really new..” Reinhardt spoke up. “Eventually we’ll want a name that can reflect on everyone.”

“We’ll find a name.” Fareeha replied. “And it will fit who we are.” she would look to Reinhardt. “If you can return to the gate that would be perfect. “I’ll take Angela to Daytower and try to send a team to search for Orisa.”

“No.” Fareeha paused when Angela spoke up. “I should help look for Orisa. I can track prints that are days old, weeks even.” she brushed her finger against her Focus. “If anyone should help the Nora, it should be their Seeker. If Orisa is still alive and with a small party they’ll be more keen to listen me than to an Outlander.”

“That’s the entire concept of this group, Captain.” Reinhardt spoke up, Fareeha took a moment before agreeing with both of them.

“Alright, in the morning I can take Angela to where the War Party was ambushed, you head to the gates and try to get Efi to get the other Braves to agree to our presence on their lands. I’ve already seen bandits starting to build up their outposts in some of the ruins or abandoned watchtowers.”

“We’re losing our land.” Angela muttered and Fareeha nodded.

“Maybe leave the borders to the Carja and send the Junkers after the bandits.” Reinhardt offered. “They get to explode things and it solves the bandit problem.”

“An even better idea!” Fareeha smiled and Reinhardt would laugh as he would move, deciding that the fire was now hot enough to start cooking their dinner. “There is still a lot that needs to be done, your tribe needs their real chief back and whatever Braves that had decided to follow her. A team of six Outlanders won’t be able to make a difference.”

“But you will.” Angela looked up and over at Fareeha. “You’re trying to make a difference in a way this world has never seen before Fareeha. It’s almost as if…” she would pause. “I have a question that might lead into an idea…” she changed her train of thought. “I assume both of your have gone through the ruins of the Metal World.”

“Absolutely.” Fareeha replied. “Our Blaze Forges are the only ones that can melt down scrap from the Old Ones. Why?”

“It’s this symbol.” Angela would take a stick set aside for the fire later that night and draw the symbol Amari had described to her in the dirt. “I’m looking for ruins that have this symbol. They honour heroes from the Metal World and they might have leads to a woman named Mercy.”

“Mercy?” Reinhardt asked, almost as if he had heard that name before, Angela would nod.

“Yes, there are ruins in the mountain the Nora protect. It uses the same thing my Focus uses to see people and machines. It saw me as this woman from the Metal World named Mercy; while my father first heard of my name and Mercy’s name in a ruin that bore this symbol, and this one.” she dropped her stick and pulled out her necklace. Reinhardt looked extremely confused while Fareeha looked surprisingly interested.

“I remember these.” Fareeha spoke as she got up from her seat across the fire and sat down next to Angela without permission. “It’s not like I’ve seen it recently, no, I think I was a child.”

“You’re talking about almost twenty summers ago.” Reinhardt spoke up. “I’d be glad if I can remember anything from that long ago!”

“To be honest, I think I was only a summer old when it happened.” Fareeha replied to Reinhardt, her hand on Angela’s knee. “The village I was born it was raided, several were killed and kidnapped. My mother and I among those taken. In a situation like so, it was not hard to guess what would happen to you if you were not killed. Especially during Hivas’ reign.”

“It wasn’t the Mad Sun-King?” Angela asked, Fareeha shook her head.

“The Mad Sun-King Sojiro came into power that following winter.” Fareeha admitted. “He and his father were very similar in their ways of ruling, it was only the start and rise of the derangement that forced Sojiro’s hand into becoming the Mad Sun-King. Not that I’m defending his actions, what he did was wrong and I am glad that Hanzo had put an end to him.”

“Slavery.” Reinhardt interrupted. “Fareeha and her mother would be sold into slavery if they were not killed. With Ana being a warrior she might have been sold to a house that raised fighters for the Sun-Ring and Fareeha would have been drowned if there was no buyer for a child less than two summers old.”

“That’s awful.” Angela gasped, Fareeha bowed her head, gesturing for Reinhardt to continue telling the story on her behalf.

“So Ana fought back against her captors, rallied the others to fight alongside her.” Reinhardt started to retell the story in a way that told Angela that he has told it several times before. “Why die as slaves when they can die as the warriors they are? So they fought back just enough to get away at the dead of night. There they would hide in the ruins of the Old Ones, knowing that their captors would not dare to search for them there.”

“We hid there for several days.” Fareeha spoke up. “I do not remember much of the ruins, but my mother can describe them with utmost clarity. It was not like the others ruins that are commonly found, this one was a shrine. A shrine to gods of the Metal World. To where the loyal machines still speak of their names and their feats against the Metal Devil and its army.” Fareeha would start playing with a plate of metal on her belt.

“On the last day I was leading a team of scavengers into those ruins and we found them there.” Reinhardt spoke up. “I still remember the Machines speaking to us, telling us feats of these heroes when they had the energy to speak. It was impressive, if not scary. Ana would tell us her story and we knew she could not go back to her tribe. So I welcomed her into my home, not as my property but as an equal.”

“Reinhardt has been my father figure almost all my life.” Fareeha smiled sadly. “Unfortunately I do not remember the tribe I was from.”

“Have you ever asked?” Angela asked, Fareeha shrugged.

“No, as far as I am concerned, I am Oseram.” she shrugged. “Sure, we are lacking in women’s rights in the heart of The Claim, but those laws mean very little in Meridian.”

“With Hanzo?” Angela asked, and there was a collective nod in agreement. “I guess if I’m successful in my task, and you’re successful with yours. The tribes will have no choice but to recognize that change is coming.” she would pause for a moment. “Those ruins, do you know where they are?”

“About a day’s walk from the border. Something that can be visited on your way to Meridian.” Reinhardt told her. “But I’m curious, what does those ruins have to do with your quest for the Nora?”

“They sound like the same ruins where my father found my name, and found these symbols.” Angela pointed to the one she drew and the one she wore. “The woman that the door in All-Mother Mountain pulled up an image of a woman who looks like me who wears this symbol.” she held up the one of the Valkyrie. “It’s not hard to believe that the Mercy the door recognized me and the Mercy in that Metal World Shrine is the same person. If they were gods or just extremely powerful people I don’t know… I just… want to know why I was abandoned…the Nora want me to heal the corruption that plagues the Machines.” she would pause when she felt an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Fareeha pulling her close against her.

“So besides the ruins.” Fareeha asked softly. “What other leads do you have to Mercy?”

“You’ll help me?”

“I promised, didn’t I?” Fareeha asked cheekily, Reinhardt would boom with laughter as he took their dinner off the fire. “So what are these leads?”

“Well.” Angela would thank Reinhardt when he gave her a serving. “I have two. Another ruin that my father mentioned that isn’t too far from here. It’s under a metal tower at the edge of a cliff.” she would smile when Reinhardt commented about seeing something like that on his way to Mother’s Watch. “The other is your friend Hakim.”

“Hakim? He’s just a scavenger, what could he have done?” she would pause. “You realize you’re accusing him of being a traitor, if we don’t have proof, no one will believe you.”

In other words, Fareeha wasn’t believing her right now.

“It’s…” Angela pulled away from Fareeha, standing up as she crossed her arms. Thinking, she needed to prove to them that she was not lying. “Focus.” she whispered. “Please tell me you can show them.”

_“Changing privacy settings temporarily.”_

Smiling she would turn to the others. “Alright, I’m going to show you what I saw using this.” she placed her hand on her Focus, both Reinhardt and Fareeha standing up in their confusion.

“The trinket?” Reinhardt asked. “I thought it was just an accessory.”

“It’s not.” Angela held out her hand and her Focus opened up, she could hear the gasps of the two Oseram. “This is a Focus.” Angela told them. “The Old Ones used to use them. I tend to find broken ones on their corpses, until I saw Hakim I thought I was the only one with a working one. He used this to send a image of me to the killer.” she waved her hand and found the stored file. Pulling up the recording of the man in the mask and the short instance or her taking to Hakim before pausing at the image of Mercy.

Fareeha would move around the hologram she was seeing before looking at Angela, eyes wide as she looked at Reinhardt.

“I have seen this woman before.” Reinhardt confirmed. “In the ruins we spoke of. On a wall there was a picture, painted, she was there, I am certain.”

“So whoever Hakim is working for, they want you dead, because you look like her?” Fareeha asked as she pointed at Angela and at Mercy. Angela nodded. “Then after they tried to kill you, the Machine in your mountain spoke to you identifying you as Mercy. So the only leads we have are these ruins and whoever Hakim is working for behind my back… the bastard.”

“Eat, sleep.” Reinhardt would push their dinners back in their hands. “Go to her father’s ruins in the morning. From there you can decide of Orisa or Mercy is more important.”

* * *

 

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///

* * *

Angela was the last to wake that morning. Reinhardt had left to return to the gate where Efi was apparently stationed. Fareeha was tending to the fire, cooking boar from the smell of it of the cooking meat.

“Morning.” Fareeha said as she sat down on the grass beside Angela with a smile. “You looked exhausted, so I let you sleep.”

“I think I’ve slept for a week in the last, week.” Angela joked idly as she sat up, stretching her arms before moving to touch the stitches on her neck gently. They would have to be removed eventually, she just didn’t know when. Maybe she could seek out a healer when she got to Meridian for advice. “But I guess I am pushing myself a little far a little too quickly.”

“To wake from a coma and immediately start on foot to the Meridian alone isn’t the best of ideas.” Fareeha idly commented, making Angela look at her spear, quickly reaching for it and picking it up. The device she had pulled from the Corruptor was still there.

“Maybe not on foot.” she stood up quickly, Fareeha looking at her. “Are their any Striders nearby?” she asked just as fast, Fareeha nodding dumbly.

“About fifty paces in that direction.” she pointed. “Saw them this morning when hunting breakfast.”

Fareeha would watch as Angela sprinted off into the woods. Trying to figure out what she was implying and how Strider parts would ease a trip to Meridian. Carts were pulled by men after all. She would return to tending to their breakfast, pulling the boar meat off the fire and frowning slightly that she couldn’t find any turkey eggs to fry up, they would have gone perfectly with this campfire meal. Once the servings were set out on some washed leaves she would wrap the leftovers and place them in her satchel to be consumed later on the road.

It gave her a moment to think. Why she had raced home and back  here in record time for Angela and the Nora. Any normal person would have left when they were asked to leave and that was it. This wasn’t her problem, and she was making herself being part of the conflict anyway. Humming to herself as she sipped from her waterskin she would give Angela a couple more moments before picking at her own food, a little bit famished herself.

“Fareeha! Come! Quickly!” Angela’s voice shouted out through the forest, forcing Fareeha to get up onto her feet, she didn’t sound like she was in trouble, but she sprinted anyway, getting into the clearing where a Strider was eating out of Angela’s hand. The blonde with a massive smile on her face as she reached out to run her hand across the neck the of the machine.

Fareeha would remove her hand from the weapon on her belt as she slowly moved closer to Angela and the machine, seeing that there was a blue light coming from it’s eye along with blue vines-like tendrils across its neck. She would look at the Machine then to Angela, noting that her Focus had a blue ring lit up around her ear. “Did you do this?” she asked, raising her hand up towards the Strider. It would turn and look at Fareeha for a moment before stepping forward, pushing its head into the palm of her hand.

“Yes.” Angela breathed. “I pulled the part out of the Corruptor that allows it to control Machines.” Angela explained softly as she lifted up her spear, showing Fareeha the piece of metal she had strung onto the end of it. “I’ve simply made it docile and friendly towards us.” she would walk around it, brushing her hand across the body. “I thought, if we can figure out how to ride it, it will help us on the trip to Meridian.”

Fareeha would nod as she placed her hands on the blue vines around the neck of the Machine, it would stay in place, its single eye looking at hers, the light dim enough that it wasn’t blinding her. “Climb onto its back.” Fareeha offered. “Go from there.”

Angela would agree, pulling herself up on the back of the Strider. It would stomp its feet and making a whirring noise that might have sounded like a whine but it didn’t buck her off. Hesitantly Angela would lean forward and grab the blue vine-like wires and hold onto them like handles. Fareeha would release her hold on the Strider and step back, letting Angela stay there sitting on it’s back. Angela would look down at it before looking at at direction. “I don’t know how to will it to move.”

“Maybe, nudge it with your heel?” Fareeha offered. “I mean it’s a way to get a lazy arse to move.” she shrugged, Angela tried that and the Strider would start to trot forward, Angela would smile and laugh brightly as the machine moved with her on its back. There her Focus would flare up and she looked at Fareeha.

“It’s showing me!” Angela exclaimed as she pulled on the wires, the Strider turning in one direction then the other as she pulled the other way. She would kick with her heels again and it would speed up, soon she was trotting in circles around Fareeha. “Look at this! Fareeha!” she laughed brightly as she pulled the Strider to a stop, jumping off it and quickly pushing for the Oseram to try. “Go on! I can get us a second later!”

“Okay.” Fareeha agreed as she pulled herself up onto the Machine, placing her hands were Angela had before. Angela would run up to her, placing her hand on her knee as she explained to her what to do and how to do it. The Strider whirring patiently and not really fighting Fareeha when she accidently pulled on one of the blue wires a little too hard. Eventually she got it to start walking, moving around the field as Angela clapped her hands and cheered. Fareeha would pull it to a stop and smile at Angela. How this entire interaction simply felt like a second nature to her. She would slide off the back of the machine, her hand brushing against Angela’s side. The blonde would stop for a moment, suddenly her hand seeking out Fareeha’s.

“Is this what you meant that night?” she asked suddenly, causing Fareeha to pause. “When you said it felt like we’ve met before.” Angela trailed off. “I feel like… I’ve done this with you a thousand times before, but I know we haven’t.” She would tighten her fingers around Fareeha’s. “There is so much that I need to do and I don’t know how to do it, then there is…”

“Hey...hey.” Fareeha interrupted her, her finger brushing against Angela’s chin and forcing Angela to look up at her. “It’s fine, everything is going to be fine.” she smiled. “I promised I’ll help you however I can, and if teams figuring out just exactly who you are and stopping that man in the mask, I’ll do it. Even if it takes years to do so.”

“Why? You hardly know me.”

“I know, but it still feels like I do, that we’ve done this a thousand times.” Fareeha would smile. “Part of me thinks, if we get the answers about Mercy, we’ll also find answers about this too.” Angela would pull her hand away from Fareeha and return to the Strider that was waiting for them patiently.

“You know, I felt the same about Reinhardt.” Angela admitted. “Felt like I had met him before. Felt like I had fought with him before, and now it has me thinking. This all has to do with Mercy. Whoever, she is to me, it’s making me feel things, see things from her life.”

“So, friends from another life?” Fareeha asked, and Angela could help but agree with her.

“Yeah, friends from another life.”

* * *

Code fragment downloaded:  
  
///   
 [function: true]   
   {{Watching the river}}   
   {{through a window of trees...}}   
   {{spring rain falls.}}   
 [function: true]   
///

* * *

“I don’t think this rain is going to let up, we should find some shelter.”

Angela had to agree with Fareeha, her hand up to block the water from her eyes as the two of them traveled down the beaten path of a set of Striders. They had covered quite the distance and Angela had her eyes peeled for the landmark Amari had told her about. They had to be close, metal towers tended to stand out.

She saw it.

“Fareeha! There! Over there!” she pointed to the old metal tower on the top of the cliff! The ruins should be there!” She would nudge her Strider into a run, forcing Fareeha to follow her as she moved. Once she got closer she could see a formation in the rocks, a drop just as Amari has said. Angela would quickly pull her rope off her belt as she slipped off her Strider, running over to secure it into place at the base of the metal tower, Fareeha finally catching up.

“Wait wait wait! You’re just going to drop down?” Fareeha shouted as she jumped off her mount. Angela was already at the edge and ready to jump down.

“Of course!” Angela replied. “There shouldn’t be any Machines down there and it will be dry at least! It’s a lead he gave me! I need to know!” she looked at her through the rain and Fareeha dropped her shoulders slightly, eventually giving Angela a nod and she was quick to descend down into the ruins. Once she made contact on the ground Fareeha had followed after her. It was a little hard to see but Angela was too excited to care, pushing forward deeper in.

“Angela! Wait!” Fareeha had called out but ultimately went ignored when Angela saw a door and ran forward. There it was, just as Amari had described, was the symbol engraved on the metal of the door. Fareeha would catch up to her and pause to catch her breath. “Angela… sheesh.”

“Here! The symbol!” Angela smiled as she placed her hand on the symbol. “It’s another shrine to them, it has to be.” Angela whispered as she pulled her hand away. “Fareeha, please.”

“What if it doesn’t give us a lead to Mercy, then what?” Fareeha hated the idea of being a downer, but she had to be realistic. “What if it just opens up another mystery? Or awakens one of those Old Machines.”

Angela just opened the door, leaving Fareeha standing there as she wandered into the ruin.

Fareeha herself would just rush in after Angela and bump into her when she realized Angela had not moved that much further from the door, she was staring at something with a look of awe. Fareeha would take a moment to take in Angela’s expression before looking over at what she was looking at.

This place was a shrine, no doubt about that, but it wasn’t to Mercy, it was to another warrior. Behind an invisible wall, glass as Angela would correct her, was a suit of armour. A shade of blue brighter than the silks she wore, crafted in such a way that Fareeha had ever seen before. It almost felt like she was seeing an old friend.

“This was in my dreams.” Angela spoke up, breaking Fareeha out of her daze as she snapped her head to the side to look at the blonde. “You, you were wearing it.”

“I was wearing it?” Fareeha asked as she returned her gaze to the suit, eyes on the helmet in particular. Blue with wings of silver, and a golden beak that reminded her so much of a Stormbird.

“The High Matriarchs said it was a sign to seek you out first but.” Angela paused. “I think it’s for you to decide what it means.”

“Can we get closer?” Fareeha asked quickly. “I want to touch it.” she would watch as Angela’s Focus would flare up allowing her see whatever it is she saw, guiding Fareeha around the glass wall and into another room that had a door and odd things set into the wall. Fareeha would just watch Angela closely as she ran her hands over the things in the wall, fingers finding odd indents, looking at it as if she was trying to find a fault in the Metal World artwork.

“I wonder.” Angela muttered and Fareeha watched as she pulled a metal block out of her satchel. She held it up to the wall for a moment before pushing it in the indent, it would slide in smoothly with a loud clunking sound. Fareeha would hear a hum of machinery and see the smile on Angela’s face as she pulled out a second one and placed it in the other indent. “We have power!” She shouted with glee as she turned to Fareeha with a massive smile on her face. Fareeha smiling in turn as Angela would move her hands across the wall and suddenly the door would open. It had to be her Focus. Angela would make a gesture for Fareeha to enter first and that’s what she did, stepping into the next room where the armour was, walking up the stairs to stand in front of it. She couldn’t explain why she was drawn to the metal armour but she simply was. Her hands going up to touch the helmet.

“How do you feel?” Angela asked, breaking Fareeha out of her trance, quickly turning to look at Angela.

“I feel like.” she would turn back to the armour. “That I found a part of me that I didn’t know was missing.” she admitted softly as she placed her hands on the helmet and pulled. It came away from the shrine and as much as Fareeha felt like she was dancing on someone’s grave, it felt like this belonged in her hands.

“Listen.” Angela called out as Fareeha turned to face her, she was kneeling in front of another piece from the Metal World that Fareeha could remember seeing several of in other ruins she had been through.

_“Commander Reyes;_

_We’re working around the clock to make up for our blunder with the Mark VIIs. We never tested against the swarm, we never thought we would have to go to war against them again. To lose her of all people this early into Enduring Victory… please, please tell Mercy she has all my condolences for we were fools and..”_

The voice would buzz loudly, it was damaged with age, forcing Angela to turn it off to protect their ears. However the voice, the one that was addressing this Commander Reyes had pointed out one thing. Whoever had worn this armour was important to Mercy. Fareeha would look at Angela for a moment before raising the helmet up and placing it on her head. The metal covered her eyes, she wasn’t able to see anything, confusing her on how the one who had owned this before had used it.

After a moment of looking foolish she would take the helmet off her head and peer inside, spotting something lodged in the ear piece. “Angela, can you take a look at this?” she asked, looking up to see that Angela was pulling something else down from the display, it looked like a chin strap to go with the helmet.

“Of course.” Angela replied as she took the helmet from Fareeha’s hands. Peering inside as Fareeha watched as her Focus flared up with that circle of light around her ear. “Fareeha, there is a Focus inside here!” she exclaimed as she placed her hand on one of the wings and dug her finger in. Fareeha could hear the sound of a click as Angela extracted an intact Focus. Glowing with power she held it out to Fareeha to take. “Here.”

“Angela.”

“We don’t know who owned this armour, but we do know that this person was important to Mercy.” Angela said sternly. “You were in my dreams wearing this armour. You feel an attachment to this armour. Am I wrong to suspect that this connection between us is something far greater and deeper than we can possible understand at this given moment?”

“No, you’re not.” Fareeha replied as she set the Focus by her ear just like Angela had. It would activate and open up the world that Angela had shown her and Reinhardt the night before. She was prepared, waiting for it to give her something. Anything.

It did not.

Angela would give Fareeha the voice commands to try and search through to find anything that belonged to the previous owner but the Focus came up empty. There was no owner before Fareeha, it made Angela suspect that there was never an owner to this suit as well. That was was abandoned when the Old Ones were forced to flee, and now it is here waiting for someone to take it.

How badly Angela wanted Fareeha to take the suit.

Fareeha would place the helmet back on her head and take the strap from Angela as well, it would lock in place around her chin and that’s when she got a reaction from the winged helmet. The metal that was over her eyes would light up and suddenly become clear like the glass wall. “It’s working!” she shouted, smiling when she saw Angela smiling at her. “Rap...Rap-tor” she sounded out the glyphs slowly. “Raptora Systems Eight Zero.” she would read. “Raptora…” she tried the word again as she turned her head to look at Angela. “That sounds right.”

“Raptora must be what Valkyrie is to Mercy.” Angela reasoned because pausing. “You know how to read Metal World?”

“Most Oseram Scavengers do.” Fareeha shrugged as she pushed up the beak of the helmet, finding that it moved and allowed her to see Angela with her own eyes rather than Raptora’s eyes. “It helps if a sign says ‘elevator’ or ‘danger’” she chuckled. “Less people walking down broken elevator shafts.”

“Elevator?” Angela asked and Fareeha’s eyes lit up.

“Oh you’ve never seen one? You should see the ones in Meridian! Massive, amazing piece of work.” she laughed. “Satya would say there is a story in every link. Amazing Carjan woman she is.”

Angela would pause. “Satya?” she repeated and Fareeha nodded. “Fareeha, that’s the same name Mercy said in that hologram!

“Yes but, think Angela.” Fareeha hated the idea of being a downer. “What did you say about the origins of your name?”

Angela had to take a step back. “I would still like to meet her.”

“You can, when we get to Meridian; but Orisa is first on our list.” Fareeha removed the helmet and made the motion to return it to the shrine, but Angela was quick, grabbing Fareeha by the wrist.

“Keep it, it looks good on you.”

Fareeha chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to keep going, but I realized the time different to the next scene was large enough to move onto the next chapter. sorry!


	6. Explain That Taste In My Mouth (why must everything resort to violence?)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lost motivation for a while, a long while... chapter doesn't feel that strong to me, it might be trying to get that Orisa/Sona character down, so that's why it's a little short.

Angela would have to admit just how majestic Fareeha looked with the Raptora helmet as she rode ahead on her Strider. While the fur around her shoulders with the metal plates sewn on did clash a little bit, the goose feather cape that almost looked like wings somehow made it work.

Yet, it almost felt Nora crafted rather than Oseram. Angela would kick her Strider to fall in step beside Fareeha. “Fareeha, your cloak, where is it from?” she would ask, Fareeha would turn to look at her, pushing up the beak of her helmet to see her with her own eyes rather than Raptora’s.

“My mother made it for me.” Fareeha replied. “It looks very Nora doesn’t it? She said it was very much like the one my father used to wear.” she sighed softly. “After meeting the Nora, it makes me wonder if I was born Nora.”

“And during the attack on your village, when you and Ana were taken from your homes, you were made exile.” Angela finished as she looked at the path ahead of them. “I spent some time reflecting on your story too, then… my father’s.” she looked at Fareeha. “His name was Amari.” Fareeha would stay silent and Angela would go on to retell Amari’s story. How he had lost his mate and daughter, that Nora’s unfair laws ruined his chances of very getting his family back, becoming Death-Seeker and the ruins where he heard Angela’s name. Watching Fareeha’s expressions slowly as she took it all in.

“It’s far too familiar.” Fareeha answered. “Yet some of it makes sense. Mother knew to hide in the ruins because the bandits would never look there, the bandits would have never looked because the Nora call those places forbidden.” she would look at Angela. “You need to meet my mother, you need to tell her this story.” she would tighten her hold on her Strider, looking down at the Machine. “If this is true….”

“Amari was your father, and I was placed in his care because Teersa trusted him. He looked for you, he abandoned the tribe in hopes of finding you!” Angela interrupted, but Fareeha still looked a little torn.

“I never got a chance to know him.” Fareeha admitted. “He’s more of a father to you than he was to me, and it’s not his fault. He had no choice.” she looked lost as she looked at Angela. “I’m sorry, but I can’t mourn a man I never got the chance to know. But I see the way he raised you, the way he did not try to bind you the way of the Nora. He must have been a great man.”

“He was.” Angela whispered. “He was.”

They would fall into a comfortable silence as they continued down the beaten path. Angela pulling her bow to practise firing from the back of the moving Strider as she followed behind Fareeha. After a while she would just watch the lands around her as they traveled, so much of it seemed similar to home yet it was different. She was seeing the mountains from a different side, seeing trees she had never seen before. She had to take it all in and simply marvel at her surroundings. Fareeha would turn off the path suddenly and down another, Angela watching as her right winged ear cuff had a circle light up around it, hers must do that as well when it was turned on.

“What’s wrong?” she asked loudly as Fareeha slipped off her Strider and into the clearing that was off the beaten path. She would jump off the Machine’s back and follow after her, finding Fareeha crouched over old blood stains and broken arrows, the Oseram running her fingers through the dirt and blood.

“The bodies are gone.” Fareeha commented as she stood up slowly, pointing to the slope leading up to the mountain. “They had the Corruptor and its Machines stampede through the clearing, the Braves were ready for a fight but this battle was not meant for hunters, it was meant for a vanguard.” she turned to Angela, pushing up the beak of her helmet. “Men and women who can stand in the front of the line and take a beating but beat back twice as hard before falling.” she rolled her shoulders slowly. “I am not saying that the Nora are bad at fighting, but you’re flankers, made to take out the backline as people like me take on the front head on.” she’s looking around as she points out places in the clearing.

“Orisa gladly accepted my input in the aid of coordinating a counter attack, sadly anyone who volunteered to be the frontal force didn’t survive.”

Angela had never met Orisa so she had little idea what to look for and what to expect from the Nora War Chief. 

“How?” Angela asked softly as Fareeha inspected a couple broken arrowshafts. Angela would look at the body of a Corruptor, trying to find a second override part to give to Fareeha.

“When I said this armour could choke a Sawtooth, I wasn’t lying.” Fareeha pounded on her chest for effect. “Orisa… damn… that woman is mountain. Nothing was able to stop her, and the way she could rally even the dying to fight harder.” there was pride in her voice.

“So you don’t think she’s dead?” Angela asked, Fareeha shook her head.

“If there is no body, they’re not dead until proven otherwise. That is what my mother always told me.” Fareeha would stand up, snapping the beak of her helmet back into place. Angela couldn’t help but feel like it was a second nature to her, despite only having for a day. She was reaching for her weapon.

“Brave! Outlander! We must talk!” A man’s voice shouted through the clearing, Angela would step over the body of the Corruptor to move and meet up with the man, a Nora Brave with massive fresh cuts across his face. If they weren’t treated soon they would become infected soon enough, and he wouldn’t survive that. Angela thought darkly.

“Dran? You live?” Fareeha asked and the wounded Brave nodded.

“I see you remember my name Outlander, unfortunately I do not remember yours.”

“Fareeha.” Fareeha replied. “It’s okay, I make a point to try and remember the names of those I fight alongside.” she would look at the clearing. “Too many names, too many dead, but they’ve all been moved.”

“Swifty, far too swifty. Are you the only two?” he asked and Angela nodded.

“Fareeha has brought in a team of Outlanders to help us hunt these killers and bandits that plague our lands.” Angela spoke, trying to sound like she was something more than she actually was. “Word was that Orisa has gone missing, well, honestly the new War Chief was quite rude.”

“Bandits, yes… I’ve seen them briefly. There was another Outlander killing them not too far from here. Troubling times we live in.” Dran exhaled slowly. “The War Chief tracked the killers, but time and time again did they send machines after us.” he looked torn. “My wounds started to slow me down, so she sent me back to tell the others that the fight has not yet been lost. Orisa knows how to rally, otherwise all of us would have been lost.”

“We’re here looking for Orisa. Where is she now?” Angela asked quickly as Dran looked a little too busy inspecting Fareeha, was it because she was an Outlander or was it because of the mis-mash of tribal and Metal World clothing she wore?

“I can tell you where we parted.” Dran would look at Angela. “There is a metal tower southeast of the ruins of Devil’s Thirst. Look for the rise behind it at the lone boulder, I’ll head back to the Embrace and report to Efi and the others.”

“Godspeed.” Fareeha told him as he would look at her for a moment then to Angela.

“May All-Mother guide you both.” he bowed his head before turning around to head towards the Embrace. Angela looking at Fareeha for a moment then back at the wreckage.

“I want to find another Override Core.” she told Fareeha. “If the killers can turn Machines I want both of us to be able to as well.”

“You can do that, and I’ll hunt us some food for the noonday meal.” Fareeha agreed as she pulled her bow off her back. “Any requests?”

“Just not a turkey.” Angela chuckled as she went back to scour over the Corruptor bodies. “I find that the don’t cook well over a spit.”

A bright laugh from her partner.

A pause. A smile.

Suddenly, Angela felt okay with calling Fareeha her partner.

* * *

Code fragment downloaded:   
  
///   
 [function: true]   
   {{From the mind}}   
   {{of a single, long vine}}   
   {{one hundred opening lives.}}   
 [function: true]   
///

* * *

Angela would place her hand on the body of the Sawtooth as she looked it over with a keen eye. It’s armour plating was blasted clean off and it’s side was littered with arrows. Angela would pull an arrow from the ruins of a Blaze line, they had made this Machine burn alive in order to kill it. However there was only one body, Sawtooths usually traveled in packs of two. She would look from the burnt arrowhead to Fareeha would was by its head, pulling charred lenses from its eyes before she took looked up at Angela, probably realizing the same thing.

Or hearing the same thudding footsteps of a Sawtooth. Angela would reach for her bow as Fareeha would reach for her spear. Over the ridge a Sawtooth would appear eyes looked on the two of them as a growl ripped through the silence. Angela would hear Fareeha shift to get in front of her, armour to choke a Sawtooth. A statement she would never forget or ever would want to witness.

The Sawtooth would roar loudly at them and break into a charge. Fareeha would move forward to intercept with her spear. The jaws of the beast wrapping around the forged metal of the weapon. A shout from Fareeha as she slammed her leg into the side of the Sawtooth’s head. Was she trying to take it on in a physical fight?

No idiot, she’s distracting it for you.

Fumbling for her Ropecaster Angela struggled to get it off her belt in the heat of the moment before she got in free, hearing Fareeha trying to beat the Sawtooth in what seemed like a shouting contest. It didn’t matter, they were circling each other and Angela was seemingly forgotten as she leveled her Ropecaster with the Machine and fired. The spike landing in its flank and forcing it to buckle as Angela quickly reloaded and fired another one. In that moment Fareeha managed to drive her spear down and pry off the cover that protected its Blaze Canister. She had intended to burn the Machine alive.

“We need that Blaze!” Angela found herself shouting, it was a lie, but she hated the sounds and whimpers the Machines made as they limped around or burned. 

“What for?!” Fareeha shouted back, Angela had to think quickly. 

“Bombs! If we’re going to fight those killers, we’re going to need traps and bombs!” Angela replied as she pulled harshing on another rope, forcing the beast to collapse. Fareeha would raise her spear to cut the wires of the Machine’s neck in hope that would be enough to kill it but the sound of cracking glass and a flame catching stopped her.

A whimper from the Machine.

Fareeha dove out of the way just in time as the canister exploded.

Angela would rush to drive her spear in the Sawtooth’s head before it started to really struggle. She would kneel down beside it with a frown before pulling it away.

“You have compassion for Machines?” a new voice would ask, the two women would turn to see another, a tall, broad dark skinned woman, holding a bow with a flaming arrow. It was she who had shot the Sawtooth.

“War Chief Orisa.” Fareeha spoke, but the Outlander was ignored as Orisa walked over to Angela, towering over the blonde.

“Do you have compassion for Machines?” she asked again and suddenly Angela found herself stopping to think. Never in her life had the sounds of wounded Machines had bothered it, it had always told her that she was close to deactivating them, close to getting their parts. Now suddenly she wanted to spare burning this Sawtooth alive because she didn’t want to hear its screams? Angela found herself taking a step back from Orisa, trying to comprehend what was going on. Where this distaste for violence was suddenly coming from?

Was it Mercy?

“No one should be made to suffer.” Angela found herself saying as she looked up at Orisa. “Human, animal, Machine it doesn’t matter. If one takes pleasure in the suffering of others they are no better than murders.” she said with a straight face right at Orisa. “All-Mother only stopped the Metal Devil and not all Machines. So every life of hers we take must be done with respect.”

“If I may add.” Fareeha spoke up as she captured Orisa’s attention. “Before the Derangement the Banuk would speak of how Machines can make life live on barren sandlands. How the rivers Snapmaws lived in always had the cleanest water.” Fareeha seemed so sure in her words. “These Machines were either created by the Gods so that we may live in harmony with them; the Derangement has made people forget.”

Orisa was silent for a moment before she agreed.

“I still remember the days as a child when Striders would eat from our hands and Watchers would dare to play with us.” she replied. “None of today’s children have ever experienced such a thing.” she would step away from the body of the Sawtooth, Angela taking the time to look at the woman. Her dark hair was split into two massive braids that rested on her shoulders, shaped by beads and metal to look like tusks. Paint striped her cheeks while her choice of fur and armour plating coupled with her size almost made her look as broad as Reinhardt. “I wish Efi could experience that.” she would break out of her thoughts before looking at Angela and Fareeha.

“I thought you had to return home, Fareeha.” she said to the Outlander before turning to Angela. “And I am glad you have survived your wounds. Efi speaks highly of your and your actions during the Proving.”

“People still died, and people will continue to die until something is done.” Angela spoke up. “I know you feel you are doing the right thing hunting these killers, but you’re needed back home. They have made me Seeker to search for these killers beyond our lands, and Fareeha has brought her men in to help fight the bandits that plague our lands.”

“We told you not to.” Orisa hissed at Fareeha. “These are our lands and we will protect them ourselves!”

“With all due respect.” Fareeha started firmly. “You cannot protect your lands if you’re all dead. You are what… about a hundred strong? If even that?” she would look Orisa straight in the eyes. “We don’t know how many rally to this Killer’s cause, we don’t know how many bandits there are in each camp they make, but there is easily enough between the two of them to kill a hundred Nora.We are here to help you kill the last of these killers; but I implore you, let my men deal with the bandits. Take your men home, rest and worry about those you have left.”

“She’s rallied warriors from across the tribes to help.” Angela spoke up. “A man called Reinhardt came to our aid when the Corruptors pushed against the gates of Mother’s Watch. If it was not for him we would have lost Braves and families to the rampant machines.”

“Reinhardt?” Orisa repeated the name and Fareeha nodded.

“A man I have grown to see as my father, a man who helped my mother and I when we were in dire need out of the kindness of his own heart.” Fareeha replied. “He had gone back to gates to help your daughter fight the Machines.”

Orisa would be silent for a moment before turning away. “Come with me, we’ll strike the rest of the killers tonight, then we can return home.” she spoke. “If we are successful here, Fareeha Vanguardswoman, you and your people have my permission to help us protect these lands.” she would turn her head slightly. “You are right, a hundred Braves cannot protect the Sacred Lands.”

They would follow Orisa across the cliffside to the point of another mountain. There another handful of Braves were waiting as the sun beyond them started to set, there was no fire, for they did not want to give their position away too easily. Angela would follow Orisa to the edge as the War Chief pointed downwards. “Hours ago I sent Braves down into the trees below. On my signal they’ll attack.” she told the Seeker as Angela looked down. The Bandit Killers had started making something more than a simple camp, they were carving into the rocks. It was easily three of them to every Brave here. “I know we’re outnumbered with their men and Machines, but we have fury.”

“More than that.” Angela would said as she brushed against her Focus, spotting how Orisa gave her a confused look. “Those barrels.” she pointed across to a barrel in a distance, it’s wood soaked a sickly green colour. “That’s Blaze, while we use it to burn, they use it to blast. That’s how they’ve been cutting into the rocks.”

“So we put fire to it.”

“Boom.”

Orisa would smile, content with that answer, it would let them cut down the fighting tremendously if they got the first jump. “Then what are we waiting for?”

“For the right time.” Angela held her hand up. “Let Fareeha and I go in first, make an approach. Let them think it’s just the two of us if we alert them. Once that happens, open fire.” she offered and Orisa would spend a moment to think over the offer. It would let Angela prove herself and she already knew that the Orseram had the ability to fight like a Nora.

“Very well, show us what you are capable of, Seeker.” Orisa replied as Angela nodded, grabbing her bow and quickly refilling her quiver from the crate of arrows placed on the top of the cliff. She would quickly walk back to Fareeha who was waiting a distance away from the Braves.

“Angela are you sure?” Fareeha asked. “Making that Sawtooth suffer was making you uncomfortable, now you just proposed burning these bandits alive.”

“How many of us have the killed?” Angela hissed back. “While Mercy might be the name I have been chosen to reclaim, it does not mean I’ll be showing any of these Killers or that man in the mask any mercy.” she exhaled as she rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me Fareeha. Everything just feels… conflicting.”

Fareeha would step forward, wrapping her arm around the Nora’s shoulders and pulling her in close, almost like a hug. Angela would inhale sharply as she squeezed her eyes shut. “All my life, killing Machines never bothered me, as long as it was done with respect, that’s what Amari taught me.” she started to explain slowly. “I never had to kill humans until that attack on the Proving and these Killers… they feel less than the Machines.”

“But…” Fareeha pushed Angela to continue.

“There is a voice nagging me, keeps asking me, if violence is always the solution.” Angela muttered. “And I want to say yes, violence is usually the answer. However becoming Seeker, meeting you, meeting Reinhardt. Violence might be the only solution to these Killers right here right now. As for solving everything else?”

“Mercy would have the answer.” Fareeha replied and Angela would nod.

“I would like to hope.”

* * *

Code fragment downloaded:

  
///   
 [function: true]   
   {{To tangle or untangle}}   
   {{the willow...}}   
   {{it's up to the wind.}}   
 [function: true]   
///

* * *

“Where did you get that headpiece?”

Fareeha would look up from looting the body of a dead bandit, worn leather pouches in her hand heavy with metal shards and other tradable trinkets. She would look up to see a Nora Brave looking down at her, curious. “This?” she would ask, pointing at her beaked helmet.

“It looks like a bird.” was the idle comment, Fareeha would find herself smiling.

“Yes.” she would empty the shards from the pouch she had just taken and share half with the Brave. She and Angela needed some for the road anyway. “Angela is searching for a woman named Mercy. A warrior who fought with the All-Mother against the Metal Devil and his Machines. This quest of her has taken her deep into the ruins of the Metal World to find clues.”

“So you’re traveling with her so she doesn’t have to travel alone.” The Brave concluded and Fareeha smiled as she started to cut the leather straps off the man’s armor. It could be taken back to be reused by the Nora Stitchers.

“Someone needs to guide her to Meridian.” Fareeha commented. “My mother is the Captain of the Guard there too, she’ll get all the help she needs in her quest.”

There would be a pause.

“You like her.”

Fareeha spluttered.

“This wasn’t all of them.” Orisa announced loudly. “I counted more at the massacre.” She looked extremely upset as Angela came over from inspecting a stash of Blaze that was not damaged in the fight, something else that could be taken back to the settlements to be used as winter began to set in for the year. “If we have to hunt them all the way to Spear’s Reach and back-”

“You won’t survive.” Angela interrupted as she replaced the lid to a crate she was searching through. “They outnumber us easily and they have machines. We can never take them on and hope to win.”

“We either need to be smart or wait for my men.” Fareeha replied. “Or at least until I have more men.”

“We don’t have time for that.” Orisa snapped, she was upset, Fareeha understood that, however Angela was talking this more logically, Orisa and the survivors were hurt and running on fumes.

“Mother!”

The interruption forced the three to part their small circle as Efi clambered down the side of the quarry. Angela looked thrilled to see her safe and sound but Orisa was even more upset. “Efi! I told you to guard that gate!”

“And I did!” she protested. “Until Fareeha’s father and the runner you sent showed up with news. Good news from Reinhardt and your location from the runner.”

“Reinhardt?” Orisa asked as she looked at Fareeha, she nodded. 

“The main who raised me, I trust him with my life.” Fareeha replied. “He will fall before he will let your gates fall. You have my word.”

“My place is here, by your side!” Efi interrupted. “It is my family too! My friends who died up on that mountain too! Am I not owed this?!”

“I have no place in this discussion.” Fareeha spoke up. “I’m just going to take a look around.” she added as she nodded at Angela, who had pressed the side of her Focus and uploaded everything she had already discovered about the quarry. As she stepped away she could hear Efi and Orisa start to raise their voices as they fought over who had the right to be out here in the wilds.

Of course it took her back to a time where she and her mother always fought with each other. Ana didn’t want her to become a fighter, wanted her to become a smith or pick up a different trade. ‘Only want what is best for you.’ those words would still ring clear to this very day. If it wasn’t for the Mad Sun-King’s actions, she definitely would not be here today.

Exhaling she would lower her visor of the Raptora Helmet and open up her Focus. Its own display would change to accommodate the Focus. It would zone in on the bodies of Corruptors they were in the middle of pulling from the earth. It would do them well to destroy them now rather than leave them. There was enough Blaze here to do that. Her Focus would pick up something and she would turn her head, it was already downloading a file from a device that was left alone on a Blaze stained crate. Upon opening and listening to the command inside, she knew what they were after next.

The covered stash of Blaze hidden within the Ring of Metal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name's McCree

**Author's Note:**

> When TwoShots had posted 'Fox' it showed me that I wasn't the only person who saw the possible Dr.Ziegler/Dr.Sobeck parallel in the game. So after a few weeks of hammering our some of the altered lore and about 34 pages of drafting a few key points to try and get a feel for the characters. I then asked TwoShots for a green light to post this work because I didn't want to look like I was plagiarizing them.
> 
> It's been nearly 4/5 years since I wrote anything resembling a story on my own, some thoughts might not flow properly, if they didn't just let me know and I'll edit accordingly.
> 
> Titled by 'Force of Nature' by Miracle of Sound [I'm not that creative].


End file.
